Walgreens-Backed Healthcare Provider VillageMD Plans IPO

VillageMD, a Walgreens-backed primary healthcare provider, is looking at an initial public offering (IPO) soon, Bloomberg reported.

The company will do its IPO in the U.S., and it could fetch as much as $1 billion and value the company at as much as $10 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Formed in 2003, VillageMD has plans to raise $500 million in a listing that could come about as of the third quarter, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

VillageMD operates its clinics under the brand name Village Medical and forms partnerships with other businesses, according to Bloomberg. The company also has some locations inside Walgreens stores.

The company runs in 12 U.S. markets, and in 2019, it raised $100 million from a Series B financing round. Swedish investor Kinnevik AB, Oak HC/FT, Town Hall Ventures and Adams Street Partners were among the participants at that time, Bloomberg reported.

Despite the past year’s volatile market, healthcare and health-tech companies have fared well, with the pandemic luring more investments to that sector. Another primary care provider, Agilon Health, filed this week for an IPO that is set to raise as much as $1.1 billion. And two of the four blank-check mergers this week involved healthcare companies, according to Bloomberg.

Last year saw Walgreens Boots Alliance accelerating its involvement in digital investments during the pandemic. The health retailer said the pandemic’s effects on business made it to look to retail restructurings and how people would want to take care of health needs in the future.

In response, the company put into place more delivery options, as well as a digital order-ahead drive-through model, with more merchandise available to be picked up that way. Digital sales for the company spiked by 22.7 percent in the third quarter of last year compared to the same quarter in 2019.