Report: Private equity firms interested in buying Dole

Dole Food Co. has been exploring a sale, and private equity firms are among those interested, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Bil Goldfield, director of corporate communications for Dole, said the company had no comment on the report.

The first round of bids for Dole concluded the week of Sept. 4, according to the Journal. Dole could be valued around $2 billion, based on the share price for similar companies like Fresh Del Monte Produce.

Dole, which has been a private company since 2013, filed to go public again in April.

Other possible changes for the company have been floated in recent weeks, in the belief that Dole is trying to improve its financial situation leading up to an initial public offering.

Dole reported more than $1 billion in debt, which it described in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing as a “substantial amount of indebtedness.”

The Los Angeles Times noted that Dole suggested in that filing it could sell its Westlake Village, Calif., corporate headquarters as part of the effort to improve its financial picture. Goldfield told the Times he knew of no plans for a move.

The company has also made reductions in its berry division recently, another move the Times attributed to the goal of improving finances.