Healthcare supplies giant Medline (MDLN) marked a powerful conclusion for the 2025 IPO market with an unprecedented public offering. The company successfully raised $6.26 billion, setting the record for the year’s largest global IPO. Its positioning as the “Costco (COST) of healthcare” received an enthusiastic market response. On its first trading day, Medline’s stock opened significantly higher, closing at $41, a roughly 41.4% increase from its $29 offering price, boosting its market capitalization to approximately $47 billion.
The offering was oversubscribed more than ten times. Medline initially planned to issue 179 million shares but ultimately increased the offering size to 216 million shares, pricing near the top end of its marketed range. The transaction secured $2.35 billion in commitments from several prominent cornerstone investors, including Baillie Gifford, Capital Group, and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. As part of the deal, the company also allocated funds from the offering to repurchase shares from pre-IPO shareholders, providing liquidity for early investors.
Founded in 1966, Medline offers approximately 335,000 medical-surgical products, and its supply chain can provide next-day delivery to the vast majority of its U.S. customers. In 2021, three private equity firms—Blackstone, Carlyle Group, and Hellman & Friedman—jointly acquired a majority stake in Medline at a valuation of around $34 billion, making it one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history. Following this IPO, the Mills family, as founders, remains the largest individual shareholders, while the three private equity firms each retain respective stakes. At the opening price, the company’s valuation showed significant growth compared to its acquisition price four years ago, also making it the largest U.S. IPO ever backed by private equity. CEO Jim Boyle explicitly compared Medline to retail giant Costco, highlighting their similarities in membership models, robust supply chains, private labels, and customer loyalty.
Medline’s journey to listing was not smooth, having been delayed previously due to uncertainties over tariff policies and federal government shutdowns. The company expects tariffs to impact its pre-tax income to some extent in the 2026 fiscal year. Nevertheless, its successful listing has strongly boosted market confidence in the IPO window and set an optimistic tone for more large-scale listings potentially arriving in 2026. Including Medline, the total capital raised by traditional U.S. IPOs in 2025 has surpassed $46 billion. The offering was led by top-tier investment banks including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Medline’s strong performance has also heightened market expectations for private equity to drive more portfolio companies to go public in the coming year.
