Prescription-data firm nears IPO

According to a write up in the Wall Street Journal, IMS Health Holdings, Inc. is in the final stages of preparation before its initial public offering. The initial offering could value the firm at $7 billion, according to the article. The firm employs roughly 9,500 people in 100 countries and is expected to go out with a share price of $21.

This IPO would be one of the largest this year so far and could reach up to $10 billion. Significantly, just over half of US-listed IPOs this year have been on health care related companies. IMS Health Holdings deals with patient- and medication-related data—and integrating multiple sources of patient data have been at the center of recent attention in the health-care environment.

IMS provides data on prescriptions, medical claims and sales to health-care companies. The company posted an $82 million profit on $2.54 billion in sales in 2013.