Healthcare firm Guardian Pharmacy raises $112 million in US IPO

(Reuters) -Guardian Pharmacy, which provides pharmacy services to long-term healthcare facilities, raised $112 million in its U.S. initial public offering on Wednesday, valuing the company at $869.3 million.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based firm priced its offering of 8 million shares of Class A common stock at $14 apiece, the low-end of its targeted range of $14 to $16 each.

The U.S. market for fresh listings is seeing a recovery in investor appetite, boosted by expectations of monetary policy easing by the country’s Federal Reserve and market optimism for a soft landing.

Investors have been selective in backing companies, with those burning cash as least favored, after a two-year IPO market downturn that saw poor performance from a raft of recently public high-profile firms.

Guardian Pharmacy, which was founded in 2004, offers a suite of technology-enabled services designed to help residents of long-term health care facilities. It was operating 50 pharmacies serving roughly 174,000 residents, as of June 30.

For the full-year 2023, Guardian Pharmacy’s revenue rose to $1.05 billion, compared with $908.9 million a year earlier.

More than two-thirds of the company’s annual revenue over the past three years has been generated from residents in assisted living facilities, behavioral health facilities and group homes, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Guardian Pharmacy said the remainder of the revenue is generated from residents of skilled nursing facilities.

It turned a net profit of $37.7 million in 2023 versus $49.7 million a year earlier.

The company’s shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “GRDN.”

Raymond James, Stephens and Truist Securities are the underwriters of the offering.