Dole CEO Murdock accused of conspiracy in take-private deal

Dole Food chief executive officer David Murdock was accused in court Thursday of conspiring with Deutsche Bank officials to drive down the value of the fresh-fruit producer so the billionaire could take it private on the cheap in a $1.2 billion deal.

Murdoch played the role of a reverse Robin Hood by taking control of one of the world’s largest sellers of fresh fruit and vegetables with a $13.50-a-share offer that undervalued Dole’s stock by more than $10, Stuart Grant, a lawyer for pension funds suing over the deal, argued Thursday at a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware.

Murdock conspired with Dole executives and Deutsche bankers “to push Dole’s price down” so he could buy the 60 percent of Dole he or his family didn’t already own and take the company private for the second time in his career, Grant told Delaware Chancery Judge Travis Laster.

The judge said he will rule later on the funds’ claims that Murdock and Deutsche’s bankers engineered the transaction to the detriment of shareholders and whether investors demanding an appraisal of their shares deserved more.

Lawyers for Murdock countered that the funds had engaged in “character assassination” of the billionaire philanthropist, who has given millions to research aimed at creating healthy diets.

“There’s no smoking gun evidence that Dole executives sought to deliver the company to Mr. Murdock on the cheap,” Bruce Silverstein, a lawyer representing the food producer, told Laster.

The pension funds “are trying to use the courts to steal the company,” he said.