Washington, DC 6/24/14—VWR, an independent provider of laboratory products, services and solutions, has filed for a public offering of its stock on a US stock exchange (see IBO 5/31/14). Proceeds from the offering will be used to pay down company debt, which totaled $2.8 billion as of March 31. In 2013, revenues grew 1.4% to $4,188 million (see IBO 3/31/14), and adjusted operating profit increased 4.4% to $285.1 million. The number of shares and offering price were not listed in the SEC filing. VWR supplies over three million unique products to more than 120,000 customers in 175 countries, including 4,500 academic institutions. In 2013, the biopharmaceutical and industrial end-markets accounted for 39% and 26% of revenues, respectively. The top 20 customers accounted for 17% of sales. Products offered include chemicals, reagents, consumables, durables, equipment, instruments, value-added services and custom-manufacturing solutions. Consumables accounted for 77% of 2013 sales. Private-label products represented 20% of product sales. VWR’s supplier base consists of more than 4,000 core lab product suppliers. In 2013, the company’s five largest suppliers were Corning, Eppendorf, GE Healthcare, Merck KGaA and Thermo Fisher Scientific. VWR processed an average of 16,000 orders per day last year, with an average order size of $700 and 50% of orders coming from its e-commerce platforms.