Plans by Dole Food Co. to sell shares to the public were triggered by a cash crunch for the nation’s largest fresh produce business and its owner, billionaire David Murdock.

A review of Securities and Exchange Commission documents filed by the company and public statements by the 86-year-old Murdock reveal a combination of interlinked loans and heavy spending that threaten the heavily leveraged Dole’s solvency.

The company, with about $7 billion in annual revenue, has nearly $2 billion in debt and a high-risk credit rating. Murdock has used the company to guarantee $205 million in loans to the tycoon’s pet projects, including a luxury health resort in Westlake Village that suffered what he once described as “several hundred million dollars” in cost overruns during construction.

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