Northfield-based Medline has raised more than $6.2 billion in its intial public offering, making it one of the largest initial public offerings of the year.
Medline sold about 216 million shares at $29 a piece — a larger offering than the company had initially outlined. The company said earlier this month that it planned to sell 179 million shares for between $26 and $30 a share. Shares of the massive medical supply company will begin trading publicly Wednesday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol MDLN.
Medline sells hundreds of thousands of products, including medical supplies and instruments, patient gowns, personal protective equipment, Curad bandages and the iconic blue-and–pink-stripled blankets hospitals wrap around newborns.
Nearly 6,100 of the company’s more than 43,000 employees worldwide work in Cook and Lake counties, including about 850 who work at the company’s flagship distribution center in Grayslake. Medline has eight facilities across the Chicago area
“Becoming a public company is a responsibility that we take seriously,” wrote CEO Jim Boyle in a note with Medline’s registration statement filed publicly with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in October. “We will create value for our shareholders through our relentless customer focus, stellar execution, and commitment to long-term success.”
Medline’s efforts to go public have been building for some time, after decades of family ownership.
Brothers Jim and Jon Mills founded the company in 1966, building on the legacy of their grandfather A.L. Mills, who made surgeons’ gowns and uniforms during World War I at his company Mills Hospital Supply.
The family agreed in 2021 to sell a majority stake in Medline to funds managed by private equity firms Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman. At the time, members of the Mills family told the Tribune that the move was intended to raise cash for family members and to strengthen the company.
Medline had sales of $20.6 billion for the nine months that ended Sept. 27, according to a previous filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company’s strong initial public offering could partly reflect investor sentiment that it’s a recession-proof business because it sells medical supplies, said Pankit Bhalodia, a partner in life sciences at consulting firm West Monroe. The company has also been owned by private equity for several years and has presumably already gone through changes to make it operate more efficiently. Plus, investors may like that Medline is not just a distributor but also sells many of its own products, allowing it to capture more revenue, he said.
Challenges, however, include that Medline will continue to carry a large amount of debt moving forward, despite the fact that it’s using proceeds from the initial public offering to help pay down debt, Bhalodia said. Also, it will face pressure due to tariffs, Bhalodia said. Medline has said it estimates tariffs will cost it $325 million to $375 million in 2025, before taxes from tariffs, and $150 million to $200 million in 2026.
Before Medline’s initial public offering, the largest listing this year was for Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. at $5.26 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Medline was previously a public company for five years in the 1970s, before it returned to private ownership.
