Dole Food CEO David H. Murdock completes acquisition of company at price of US$13.50/share

Nevin Barich

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, California , November 1, 2013 (press release) – Dole Food Company, Inc. (DOLE) today announced that David H. Murdock, Dole’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, has completed his acquisition of Dole Food Company, Inc.
The $13.50 per share purchase price represents a total valuation of Dole at over $1.6 billion, including net debt, fees and expenses. The going-private merger agreement was approved on October 31, 2013 at a special meeting of the Dole stockholders. Dole announced that its shares of common stock will cease to be traded on The New York Stock Exchange effective at the close of business today.

“I am pleased to have concluded the acquisition of Dole and wish to thank our many loyal stockholders. Our stockholders certainly benefitted from a very robust special committee process and the extraordinarily high valuation for the Company. The $13.50 price per share is considerably higher than Dole’s historical stock trading price average,” said Mr. Murdock.
“I plan to have Dole support my strong personal commitment to promoting a lifestyle and diet which includes significant emphasis on fruits and vegetables and proper nutrition as a basis for improved health and longevity. We will continue to support research efforts to study the impact of nutrition on health and longevity at universities and other non-profit institutions, and to write books and publications in order to broaden our collective knowledge base on the value and benefits from eating fruits and vegetables.”

Mr. Murdock was advised by Deutsche Bank Securities and Paul Hastings LLP. The Special Committee of Dole’s Board of Directors was advised by Lazard and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. The Company was advised by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. “We very much appreciate the extraordinary effort of Dole’s management team and these highly professional and experienced bankers and legal advisors who worked tirelessly with management to complete this transaction,” said C. Michael Carter, Dole’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

About Dole Food Company, Inc.

Dole Food Company, Inc., with 2012 revenues from continuing operations of $4.2 billion, is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education and research. For more information, please visit www.dole.com or http://investors.dole.com.

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