Castle & Cooke Holdings and The Murdock Group to divest all remaining holdings in world’s largest fresh produce company, concluding Murdock’s four-decade connection with the business
Two companies owned by the late David Murdock are poised to sell almost 12mn shares in the world’s largest fresh produce company Dole, through a public offering.
Murdock, the multinational’s former owner and an advocate of plant-based, healthy diets, died in June at the age of 102.
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Castle & Cooke Holdings and The Murdock Group will offer a combined 11,917,263 shares priced at US$13.25 per share, valuing the deal at around US$158m.
In the statement, the transaction was described as entirely shareholder-driven, meaning Dole itself does not stand to benefit from any of the proceeds.
Once the sale is completed, neither Castle & Cooke nor The Murdock Group will retain any holdings in the company, and this will effectively draw to a close four decades of connection between Dole and Murdock, who bought Castle & Cooke in 1985.
Both Castle & Cooke and The Murdock Group were previously controlled by Murdock, who took Dole private in 2013 before helping to relist the business in 2021.
The offering is expected to close on 5 September 2025, with Goldman Sachs acting as sole underwriter.
Dole, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, is reckoned to be the world’s largest supplier of fresh fruit and vegetables in terms of turnover.
In August, the group completed the sale of its Fresh Vegetables division for around US$140m, as it continues to focus on core categories including bananas, pineapples, grapes and berries.
