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Thursday, September 25, 2014

Proxy advisers turn up heat in Darden Restaurants board brawl, (NYSE: DRI)

Advisory firms Glass, Lewis & Co and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) each have recommended that Darden Restaurants Inc investors back Starboard Value LP's 12-director slate, which would oust the embattled company's full board.In an unusual move late on Thursday, smaller firm Egan-Jones Proxy Services temporarily withdrew its recommendation that shareholders vote for the eight director nominees put up by Darden, which is leaving spots open for Starboard candidates.Egan-Jones, in a statement, cited recent Securities and Exchange Commission guidance regarding proxy advisers in its reasoning and said it would re-release the report after two separate conference calls tentatively planned for Sept. 26 with representatives from both Darden and Starboard.Darden, best known for its Italian-themed Olive Garden chain, repeatedly has said a complete turnover of the board is risky and would hand too much control of the company to Starboard. Its annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for Oct. 10.

Darden Restaurants, Inc. is full service restaurant company. Shares of DRI fell by 0.87% or $-0.45/share to $51.28. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $43.56 and as high as $54.89. On average, 1772920 shares of DRI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1229941.



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