A controversial deal to sell Red Lobster is still causing indigestion.
Starboard Value LP has sued Darden Restaurants over its $2.1 billion agreement in May to sell Red Lobster to buyout firm Golden Gate, demanding books and records amid allegations of “a fire-sale price.”
Starboard, a New York hedge fund whose successful effort to demand a special shareholder meeting this spring over the issue was ignored by Darden’s board, also disclosed in a securities filing that it has increased its Darden stake to 8 percent.
“Starboard has attempted to negotiate in good faith the conditions for the company to turn over the requested records,” Starboard said in an activist 13D shareholder filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.
But Darden, which also owns Olive Garden, The Capital Grille and Bahama Breeze, “was not willing to accept reasonable terms regarding confidentiality restrictions” on books and records requested in June, Starboard said in the filing, complaining of “months of maneuvers” to silence shareholder dissent.
Starboard, which is now looking to shake up Darden’s board, has argued that Darden should have spun off all of its real estate assets into a separately traded company.
By selling Red Lobster, the potential value of such a transaction has been badly diminished, Starboard has argued.
Darden said it found Starboard’s demand for the books “improper” and “overbroad,” and said the information was “privileged.”