Dole Plc said on Monday it planned to raise as much as $598 million in an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, aiming a valuation of more than $2.1 billion (€1.8 billion) for the fruit and vegetable grower.
The company, formed earlier this year by the merger of Total Produce PLC and Dole Food Company Inc, said it was looking to offer 26 million shares priced between $20 and $23 per share.
In June of this year, the European Commission approved the merger and Total Produce announced that it successfully completed the syndication of its financing arrangement as part of its merger with Dole Food Company, Inc.
Earlier in April, Total Produce announced a credit agreement worth $1.44 billion with Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. to refinance the existing Total Produce and Dole debt facilities.
US IPO
Dole filed paperwork earlier this month with regulators to return to the US stock market as part of a deal that saw the 98-year-old billionaire owner David Murdock finally give up the reins of the company.
Murdock, who built what was originally a Hawaiian pineapple growing business into one of the world's biggest fresh food producers and distributors, stepped down from the board earlier this year as part of the merger with Total Produce.
Dole plans to list under the ticker symbol 'DOLE'.
Total Produce reported a 1.7% revenue increase for the year 2020, to €6.26 billion, in what it described 'very strong performance' in spite of the 'unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19'.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM. For more Fresh Produce stories, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
