KKR-backed BrightSpring is first to file in 2024 for major IPO

BRIGHTSPRING Health Services filed for a US initial public offering (IPO) on the first business day of the New Year, listing a phalanx of Wall Street’s biggest banks in its plans.

The home and community-based health-care services provider backed by KKR & Co was planning to seek to raise US$1 billion in an IPO, Bloomberg News reported in September. Tuesday’s (Jan 2) filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission does not include proposed terms of the offering, which would be disclosed in a subsequent filing.

Goldman Sachs Group, Jefferies Financial Group, Morgan Stanley, UBS Group, Bank of America Group, Guggenheim Securities and Leerink Partners are listed in the top tier of underwriters for the listing. Six other banks and KKR itself are also listed in the filing.

KKR bought BrightSpring in 2019 and merged it with PharMerica to create a diversified healthcare platform with comprehensive care capabilities across clinical, pharmacy and non-clinical support services. KKR said that the merged company had a combined revenue of about US$4.5 billion.

BrightSpring, based in Louisville, Kentucky, filed for an IPO publicly in October 2021 and had planned to list later that year. Faced with a souring market for new listings, it put its plans on hold and then withdrew its filing.

BrightSpring had a net loss of about US$150 million on revenue of US$6.45 billion for the nine months ended Sep 30, according to the filing. After the IPO, BrightSpring will be controlled by KKR and an affiliate of Walgreens Boots Alliance.

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The company plans for its shares to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol BTSG. BLOOMBERG