Dole buys 2
flower companiesBy Noam Neusner
Bloomberg NewsWESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Dole Food Co. bought two fresh-flower companies and agreed to acquire a third, part of its effort to offer more products to supermarkets that already buy Dole's fruits and vegetables.
Dole wouldn't disclose the purchase price, though it said in a regulatory filing it was negotiating to buy companies for about $150 million. A Dole spokesman said the company wasn't in talks for any other purchases.
The world's largest marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables said it bought Finesse Farms, an importer and marketer of roses, and Four Farmers Inc., which focuses on growing and marketing floral bouquets. Dole also signed a letter to acquire the Clavecol Group, including CCI Farms, a grower and marketer of fresh-cut flowers.
Together with Dole's recently acquired floral businesses, the company will have annual revenue of at least $200 million from fresh-cut flowers. The company had revenue of $4.3 billion last year.
"These companies provide Dole a solid base to supply wholesale florists and to enhance our existing product offering to our grocery customers throughout the North American market," said Dole Chairman David Murdock in a statement.
In its quarterly filing, Dole said it paid $72.9 million for acquisitions and other investments in the first half, with most of the money going to buy Sunburst Farms Inc., the largest U.S. importer of fresh-cut flowers, and closely held Floramerica Co., Latin America's largest grower and exporter of fresh-cut flowers to the U.S. The purchase price was previously undisclosed. Shares of Westlake Village, Calif.-based Dole were up 121/2 cents today at $46.69 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Dole had its origins in pineapple and sugar in Hawaii in the first half of the last century. It expanded to become the world's biggest grower, packer and shipper of fresh fruits and vegetables but still has Hawaii land and agricultural interests, such as fresh pineapple, coffee, papaya and flowers.
