Companies and Brands

Dole Food IPO: Adds More Underwriters and Maybe More Funding

Chris Lange

Published: June 29, 2017 11:10 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 10:34 am

Dole Food Company has registered an amended S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its initial public offering (IPO). No pricing details were mentioned in the filing, but the offering is valued up to $100 million, although this number is usually just a placeholder. The company has yet to decide on what exchange to list its shares or under what symbol.

The original underwriters for the offering were Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank. Dole has added on Stephens, RBC Capital Markets and William Blair.

This is one of the world’s leading producers, marketers and distributors of fresh fruit and vegetables. Dole provides retail, wholesale and foodservice customers around the world with a diverse portfolio of the finest, high-quality fresh fruit and vegetable products bearing the Dole brand and other brands.

Its most significant products hold leading market share positions in their respective markets. The firm is one of the world’s largest producers of bananas and pineapples, and a leader in other fresh fruit, value-added and fresh-packed vegetables, and berries. Dole sells and distributes its fruit and vegetable products throughout its network in North America, Europe, Latin America, South Africa and Dubai.

The Dole brand is one of the most recognized brands for fresh fruit in the United States, as evidenced by its 63% unaided consumer brand awareness — 25% higher than that of its closest competitor, according to a survey conducted in 2016 by major global research company IPSOS. In a recent survey conducted by Reputation Institute measuring the reputation of roughly 800 companies in the United States, Dole ranked as the highest fresh food brand and was the 18th most reputable brand overall.

The company briefly described its finances in the filing:

For fiscal 2016, we had revenue of approximately $4.51 billion, operating income of approximately $21.4 million, a net loss of $23.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $215.6 million.

Dole intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay indebtedness, with the remainder going toward working capital and general corporate purposes.