Dole Food Company is looking to sell its corporate headquarters and close strawberry operations in a bid to improve its financial position ahead of the group's upcoming public stock offering (IPO).
According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, Dole is aiming to sell nearly 15,000 acres of unproductive agricultural land in Hawaii valued at US$171m, and will also close a packing and cooling facility in Oxnard at the cost of 172 jobs.
Analysts told the publication that, due to Dole's financial standing - being nearly US$1.3bn in debt with low margins and falling revenues - the move to offload some real estate holdings was crucial.
“They don’t want to do these things after the IPO,” Kathleen Smith, principal of Renaissance Capital, an initial public offering investment advisor, told the Los Angeles Times.
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