Medline Inc. (MDLN) shares are making waves after a dramatic first day as a public company. The healthcare giant went public Wednesday with a bang, watching its stock soar more than 41% before cooling off in after-hours trading.

Here's how the action unfolded: Medline shares jumped 41.38% during regular trading hours on Wednesday, closing at $41. But when after-hours trading kicked in, enthusiasm faded a bit with shares sliding 2.47% to $39.99. Still, that's a solid gain above the $29 IPO price, which is exactly what companies and their bankers hope for in a successful debut.

The IPO Details

Medline priced its upsized initial public offering at $29 per share for 216.03 million Class A common shares, the Illinois-based company announced Tuesday. That "upsized" part matters because it means demand was strong enough that they sold more shares than originally planned.

The company assembled an all-star lineup of Wall Street banks to manage the deal. Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), BofA Securities, and J.P. Morgan (JPM) served as global coordinators and lead bookrunning managers. Translation: they were the quarterbacks calling the plays.

The supporting cast of bookrunning managers included Barclays (BCS), Citigroup (C), Deutsche Bank Securities (DB), Jefferies (JEF), and UBS Investment Bank (UBS). When you see that many big names on the deal, you know it's a significant offering.

The underwriters also received a 30-day option to purchase up to 32.4 million additional shares. That's the standard greenshoe option that gives banks flexibility to support the stock price if needed or cash in on strong demand.

Where The Money Goes

So what's Medline planning to do with all that cash? The company will use proceeds from 37.03 million shares, plus any money from the underwriters exercising their option to buy another 32.40 million shares, to purchase or redeem equity interests from pre-IPO owners. In other words, this is partly about providing liquidity to early investors and owners who've been waiting for their payday.

The offering is expected to close Thursday, assuming all the customary closing conditions are met. That's typically a formality, but it's worth noting until the deal officially wraps.

The Numbers That Matter

With its debut complete, Medline now sports a market capitalization of $32.27 billion. That's a hefty valuation for a healthcare company, reflecting both the size of its operations and investor appetite for the sector.

According to market data, Medline closed at $41 on Wednesday before the after-hours pullback. The company's stock rankings indicate MDLN has a negative price trend across all time frames, though that's based on limited trading history given it just went public.

The slight after-hours decline isn't necessarily cause for concern. IPO stocks often experience volatility in their first days of trading as investors figure out the right price and early buyers take some profits. The key metric here is that Medline closed its first day up 41% from its IPO price, which by any measure counts as a successful public debut.