Dole Goes Public on New York Stock Exchange

Fruit and vegetable grower Dole plc held an initial public offering on Friday, yielding $400 million in fresh capital.Dole, headquartered in Dublin, is the result of a 2018 merger between Dole Foods in Westlake Village and Total Produce in Ireland.The company announced an IPO price of $16, but trading started at $15. Shares of Dole (DOLE) closed Friday down 50 cents to $14.50 on the New York Stock Exchange, on a day when the Dow fell a fraction of a percent.“This is a fantastic day,” Chief Executive Rory Byrne said in a statement. “In Dole plc, we are positioning our business to fully harness the great and growing potential of our extraordinary industry.”This is the third time Dole has gone public. Billionaire David Murdoch took it private in 2003, then took it public in 2009 and reprivatized it in 2013.