Medline: Strengthening an essential business at the center of healthcare

Reliability is essential in healthcare. When a hospital places an order for critical supplies, it expects those products to arrive on time, every time. For more than five decades, Medline has built its business around meeting that expectation.

Behind the scenes in hospitals across the country, Medline products move through supply rooms, operating suites, and patient floors every day. With more than 45,000 employees and over 2,100 trucks delivering supplies daily, the company has become part of the infrastructure that healthcare providers depend on. Its mission is straightforward: help reduce the total cost of care while improving quality outcomes.

When Pacharbor Capital Group invested in 2021, Medline had achieved more than 50 consecutive years of revenue growth and had become a trusted partner throughout the healthcare system. That same year was also an important turning point for the company as Medline navigated the aftermath of COVID, which had fundamentally disrupted global supply chains and accelerated long-standing cost and labor pressures across healthcare. Many of the operational priorities at that time, from strengthening supply chain resilience, to supporting customers facing staffing shortages and managing inflationary pressures, were extensions of trends already underway but intensified by the pandemic.

At the same time, Medline was undergoing both a generational ownership transition and a leadership transition to first-time non-family executives. The focus was not on redefining the business, but on reinforcing its foundation for a more complex and volatile operating environment while preserving the culture and discipline that had driven its success.

A durable foundation

Pacharbor Capital Group seeks to partner with what we call “battleship” businesses, market leaders that play an essential role in how their sectors function and that we believe will have long-term relevance. In our view, Medline exemplified this approach.

The company operates in large, non-cyclical healthcare markets supported by demographic tailwinds and rising demand for care. Its long-standing contracts as a primary supplier to hospitals, broad branded product portfolio, and integrated distribution network create meaningful advantages and deep customer relationships.

At the time of the investment, we saw strong competitive moats and a clear path to enhance systems, upgrade governance, and expand capabilities to support continued growth at scale.

Scaling the infrastructure behind care

Under CEO Jim Boyle, a nearly 30-year Medline veteran and the company’s first non-family chief executive, Pacharbor Capital Group worked closely with management to reinforce what already worked and add capabilities that would support the next phase of growth.

Reinforcing supply chain resilience

Medline’s ability to deliver next day to most U.S. customers is central to its value proposition. During the partnership, investments in manufacturing capacity, distribution infrastructure, and procurement helped strengthen that network and support customers through COVID-related disruption, freight volatility, and tariff pressures.

Modernizing data and digital capabilities

As Medline expanded globally, managing inventory, forecasting demand, and coordinating across manufacturing and distribution became more complex. Drawing on the expertise of Pacharbor Capital Group’s Technology and Data Science teams, we helped modernize core systems, strengthen data infrastructure, and accelerate the development of Medline’s e-commerce platform. This improved demand forecasting, inventory management, and customer ordering, enabling Medline to increase operational efficiency.

Pursuing disciplined Mergers & Acquisitions

Pacharbor Capital Group helped drive targeted acquisitions that expanded Medline’s presence in higher-acuity care settings, including the 2024 acquisition of Ecolab’s Surgical Solutions business, which strengthened Medline’s position in the operating room and deepened its integration with hospital systems. These transactions expanded Medline’s product portfolio, customer channels, and international footprint, reinforcing its competitive position and strengthening its ability to help providers manage both quality and cost.

Strengthening governance and financial foundations

In preparation for potential public ownership, Pacharbor Capital Group partnered with management to formalize long-range planning, enhance reporting and internal controls, and strengthen board governance. Leveraging our capital markets capabilities, we also worked with Medline to refinance and restructure the company’s debt, reducing annual interest expense by ~$120M and strengthening its balance sheet.

Throughout our ownership, the focus remained consistent: work alongside management, preserve Medline’s unique culture, and invest in capabilities that would endure.

Embarking on the next chapter

As we planned for a potential exit, the market environment grew increasingly volatile, testing even the strongest businesses. Tariffs affecting global medical supply chains and a prolonged US government shutdown disrupted capital markets and delayed many healthcare IPOs.

Rather than reacting to market noise, we focused on preparation. The company’s diversified manufacturing footprint, resilient supply chain, and essential role in healthcare delivery enabled it to continue growing through disruption. By emphasizing execution and operational fundamentals, Medline entered the reopening IPO window positioned for durability rather than timing alone.

In December 2025, Medline completed the largest healthcare IPO ever¹, raising ~$7.2B². The transaction enhanced the company’s financial flexibility and positioned it to continue investing in infrastructure, innovation, and growth as a public company.

Building resilience where it matters

We believe Medline’s journey reflects how Pacharbor Capital Group partners with market-leading businesses that sit at the center of their ecosystems and helps them scale through transition and uncertainty.

We seek to invest in companies with durable foundations where we see potential for long-term relevance. Working closely with Medline’s management team, we strengthened operations, governance, and its capital structure to help ensure the business could continue to perform in a complex, changing environment. The focus was not simply on growth, but on building resilience at the core of the healthcare system providers rely on every day.

For Medline, that meant entering the public markets as a stronger, better prepared organization, ready to continue to support healthcare providers, lower the total cost of care, and improve outcomes over the long term.

^{1 Bloomberg, S&P Capital IQ, Dealogic. CMG, as of 12/17/25
2 Medline, as of 12/18/25}