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By Shubhangi Mathur, 5:17 PM ET
Shares ofDole, which returned to public markets, closed down more than 9% on Friday. Thecompany is trading on New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “DOLE.”
The stockopened at $15 per share which is below its initial public offering price of$16. The market value of the company stands roughly at $1.5 billion.
In February,Dole announced the merger with Total Produce to go public. The IPO for the newcompany, which is the world’s largest fresh produce company, raised $400million in gross proceeds.
The twocompanies reported combined net sales of $8.97 billion last year whichgenerated net income attributable to shareholders of $80.1 million.
“The big advantage that we have is a huge diversity ofsourcing capability,” said Dole CEO Rory Byrne, reported CNBC.
Byrne also said that no impact is expected on the companyfrom the ongoing drought in California.
Dole, which was founded in 1851, owns more than 109,000acres of land globally, as of March 31.
Previously, Dole has twice been publicly traded. In 2013, BillionaireDavid Murdock took the company private for $1.3 billion and five years later, TotalProduce bought a 45% stake in Dole for $300 million.
(Withinputs from CNBC)
PictureCredits: CNBC