Another activist hedge fund is putting pressure on the conglomerate Darden Restaurants.
Last week, under pressure from a different hedge fund, Darden announced that it would spin off its Red Lobster chain and take several steps intended to bolster its stock price.
But in a filing on Monday, the investment firm Starboard Value said “the plan outlined by management falls significantly short of the actions required to maximize shareholder value,†adding that it was “disappointed with the continued poor financial performance†of the firm.
In the filing, Starboard Value said that it had taken a 5.6 percent stake in the chain, believing that the company was an “attractive investment opportunity.â€
Since September, the hedge fund Barington Capital has called for breaking up the company into as many as three separate businesses. The fund said one company should contain the mature Red Lobster and Olive Garden brands; another should hold younger, faster-growing chains like LongHorn and Capital Grille; and a third should consolidate the chain’s huge real estate holdings into a real estate investment trust.
Barington has also called for cost savings of more than $100 million.
News of Starboard Value’s plan was first reported in The Wall Street Journal online.
