Dole plc, the new freshness giant resulting from the merger of Dole Food Co. and Irish Total Produce, has put its IPO at a lower price than planned.
The company’s stock offering will be $ 16 per share, which is below the planned price range of $ 20-23.
Dole, which is scheduled to begin trading today (July 30), is offering 25 million shares – a decrease from the 26 million proposed in the plans.
The company is expected to generate gross proceeds of $ 400 million before costs. Dole said the underwriters were given a 30-day option to buy up to 3.75 million more shares at the IPO price.
At the highest end of Dole’s planned price range, the IPO would have raised $ 598 million.
The merger of privately held Dole Food Co. and publicly traded Total Produce was announced in February. Through a deal in 2018, Total Produce already owned 45% of Dole Food Co.
„The transaction will simplify the existing structure between the two companies by uniting Dole and Total Produce under common ownership, with the aim of enabling full operational integration, realizing synergies and creating value in the expanded business,” it said at the time .
The companies announced in February that the new group would seek to raise $ 500-700 million from the stock market to „strengthen and de-debt the combined balance sheet,” with the aim of tripling net debt to adjusted EBITDA .
That IPO prospectus Dole plc has pro forma sales of $ 9 billion. The turnover is „about twice as high … compared to its closest competitor”, which the company described as the Belgian Greenyard with a turnover of 5.2 billion US dollars.
The combination and listing provides that non-agenarian billionaire David Murdock, owner of Dole Food Co., will cede control of the company.
Murdock, the then CEO, took the publicly traded Dole Food Co. private in 2013.
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