(RTTNews) - Fruits producer Dole Food Company, Inc. on Thursday said it priced its initial public offering of 35.72 million shares of common stock at $12.50 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions. This represents 41% of the capital stock outstanding, with the balance continuing to be held by David Murdock. The pricing is below its recently estimated offering price range of $13-$15 per share.

The shares will begin trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DOLE". The offering is expected to close on October 28.

The company will use the net proceeds from the offering to repay indebtedness thereby deleveraging its balance sheet.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book running managers for the offering.

For the half-year ended June 20, 2009, net income attributable to the company was $123 million, down from $152 million in the prior year. Revenues dropped to $3.311 billion from $3.723 billion.

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