Renaissance Capital logo

Specialty drug distributor Diplomat Pharmacy files for a $100 million IPO

July 3, 2014

Diplomat Pharmacy, which operates the fourth largest specialty pharmacy in the US, filed on Thursday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. The company distributes drugs that require coordinated regimens required by patients with complex chronic diseases.

It claims to be the largest independent specialty pharmacy in the US and competes with multinational pharmacies Express Scripts (ESRX), Walgreens (WAG) and CVS Caremark (CVS). The company is controlled by its founder and CEO, Philip Hagerman (73% pre-IPO stake), and other primary shareholders include EVP of Operations Jeffrey Rowe (7%), T. Rowe Price and the Janus Capital Group.

The Flint, MI-based company was founded in 1975 and booked $1.6 billion in sales for the 12 months ended March 31, 2014. Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo are the joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.