Starboard Value LP launched a fight to take over the board of Darden Restaurants Inc, saying the planned sale of Darden's Red Lobster seafood chain was "a value-destructive transaction" that ignored the rights of shareholders.Darden said last week it would sell Red Lobster to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion, defying Starboard and another activist investor that had opposed the sale of the struggling chain.Starboard, which said on Thursday that it had increased its stake in Darden to about 6.2 percent from 5.5 percent, has been leading a shareholder effort to force the company to hold a special meeting for a vote on the sale.Darden has said the deal is expected to close in the quarter ending August and is not subject to shareholder approval.
Darden Restaurants, Inc. is a full service restaurant company. Shares of DRI remained unchanged at $48.69. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $44.78 and as high as $55.25. On average, 1459430 shares of DRI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
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