<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Westlake Village, CA-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">2.22.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Dole Food Company has announced that its Asia Fresh and Worldwide Packaged Foods businesses will be sold to ITOCHU Corporation on April 1 for $1.65 billion in cash. ITOCHU has just paid a non-refundable cash deposit of $200 million to be applied to the purchase price, and will be forfeited if the transaction does not occur by April 1, 2013. <img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/itochu-dole-banner-2.jpg" alt="Dole to Complete Sale of Worldwide Packaged Foods and Asia Fresh - IMAGES" />“The consummation of the sale on April 1st will complete this transformative transaction for Dole, resulting in a major percentage of Dole’s operations being sold to ITOCHU. The new Dole will have a smaller footprint as a commodity produce company with overall revenue in the $4.2 billion range with two lines of business: fresh fruit and fresh vegetables,” said David H. Murdock, Dole’s Chairman. “ITOCHU will have exclusive rights to the Dole® trademark on packaged food products worldwide and on fresh produce in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. We will remain an industry leader in the sourcing, distribution and marketing of bananas, pineapples and other tropical fruits, packaged salads, fresh-packed vegetables and fresh berries.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>David A. DeLorenzo President and CEO has stepped down from his role at Dole, but will remain on the company’s Board of Directors. He will assume a full-time position leading that management team of the business being acquired by ITOCHU through the closing date. After, he will join ITOCHU as senior management of these businesses.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.dole.com/" target="_new">Dole</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
