Belgian frozen foods company Greenyard NV is exploring an acquisition of Dole Food Co, a U.S. fruit and vegetable producer that could be valued at more than USD2.5bn, including debt, people familiar with the matter said recently.
According to Reuters, California-based Dole has also been considering a potential initial public offering, but a deal with Greenyard could provide a quicker avenue for Dole’s 94-year-old chairman David Murdock to cash out on his ownership of Dole. If the two companies fail to clinch a deal, Dole will continue to assess other offers as it proceeds with plans for an IPO, one of the sources added.
Dole, once the world’s largest producer of fruits and vegetables, was taken private by Murdock in 2013 in a USD1.2 billion deal following a four-year run as a publicly listed company. That deal came as Dole struggled to generate profits amid volatile demand and low prices for bananas, its highest-selling product. Before going private, Dole had sold its packaged foods and Asia fresh produce businesses to Japan’s Itochu Corp for $1.7 billion, shrinking itself by a third, to help pay down debt, Reuters says. Half of Greenyard is owned by Belgian entrepreneur Hein Deprez and his family company, according to Thomson Reuters data.
