On Friday, pineapple grower Dole Plc filed paperwork with regulators for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, in an attempt to pay down debt and cover merger costs. The Dublin-based company, created through a merger between Dole Food Co. and its Irish co-equal Total Produce Plc, did not disclose how many shares it plans to sell, or at what price they would be sold.
Davy, Deutsche Bank Securities and Goldman Sachs are the lead underwriters for the offering. The company plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DOLE.
Last February, Total Produce agreed to buy Dole Food in an agreement that placed both companies’ capital into a newly created firm. Through this merger, Total Produce investors will receive 82.5% of Dole Plc shares. Investment firm Castle & Cooke Inc., which owns 55% of Dole Food parent DFC Holdings, is to receive the rest. The distribution is conditioned on a US IPO.
