Dole Goes Public

Dole Food Company Inc. announces the pricing of its initial public offering of 35,715,000 shares of common stock at a price of $12.50 per share (before underwriting discounts and commissions). This represents 41 percent of the capital stock outstanding with the balance (including shares subject to the trust offering described in the initial public offering prospectus) continuing to be held by David H. Murdock. The shares will begin trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DOLE" and the offering is expected to close on Oct. 28, 2009.

The company will use the net proceeds from the offering to repay indebtedness thereby de-leveraging the company's balance sheet.