On Tuesday, fruit and vegetable giant Dole Food Co. filed for an initial public offering that could raise up to $100 million, though this amount is likely a placeholder for an IPO that could potentially bring in up to $400 million, according to Renaissance Capital.
This won’t be Dole’s first time on the market. The company used to trade publicly, but its owner and CEO, Mr. David H. Murdock, took Dole private about four years ago.
West Village, CA-based Dole was founded in 1851, and is one of the largest producers of bananas and pineapples in the world, as well as other fresh fruit and vegetables. The company has a global network that expands throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, South Africa, and Dubai.
Dole posted a net loss of $23 million in fiscal 2016 on revenues of roughly $4.5 billion, and the company plans to use the proceeds from its IPO to pay down debt and for general corporate purposes.
No pricing terms have yet been disclosed, and no trading symbol was listed in its filing with the SEC. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE:BAC), and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) are joint bookrunners are leading the offering.
There haven’t been many recent food and drink IPOs, though the companies that have gone public surely made a bang, most notably Shake Shack’s (NYSE:SHAK) IPO back in 2015 and US Foods’ (NYSE:USFD) $1 billion debut last year.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Click here for the 6 trades >>
US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD): Free Stock Analysis Report
Shake Shack, Inc. (SHAK): Free Stock Analysis Report
Original post