Medline just gave the IPO market its biggest moment of the year.
The medical supplies giant raised $6.26 billion in an upsized offering, pricing 216 million shares at $29 each near the top of its range. The deal values the company at roughly $39 billion based on shares outstanding, and trading is set to begin on Nasdaq under the ticker $MDLN.
For a US IPO market that’s been stuck in a long post-pandemic hangover, this was a statement.
A hospital staple, not a hype story
Medline isn’t a flashy AI or biotech debut. It makes the unglamorous but essential stuff hospitals run on: gloves, gowns, exam tables, surgical kits, and hundreds of thousands of other medical-surgical products. The company supplies next-day delivery to about 95% of US customers and serves hospitals, clinics, and care facilities nationwide.
That stability helped attract deep-pocketed demand. Medline lined up more than $2 billion in cornerstone commitments from long-only investors including Baillie Gifford, Capital Group, Viking Global, and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
Financially, Medline reported $20.6 billion in revenue and $977 million in net income over the first nine months of 2025, continuing a streak of more than five decades of annual sales growth.
Private equity finally finds the exit
The IPO is a major moment for Medline’s private equity backers: Blackstone $BX, Carlyle $CG, and Hellman & Friedman, which bought the company in a $34 billion leveraged buyout in 2021. After the offering, each firm will still control roughly 18% of the voting power, alongside the founding Mills family.
Medline plans to use a chunk of the IPO proceeds to pay down debt, which stood near $15 billion pre-offering. Management has said it’s targeting a net debt to EBITDA ratio below 3, a key de-risking move for public market investors.
Big picture: Medline’s blockbuster debut shows investors are still willing to back scale, cash flow, and boring reliability. If private equity needs proof that the IPO window is cracking back open, this might be it.