Adaptec's slate of director nominees backed by proxy advisory firm

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 16 - Adaptec, Inc. said Glass, Lewis & Co. recommended that shareholders elect all seven of the company's nominees to the Adaptec board of directors at the annual meeting on Nov. 10.

"We are confident that the team nominated by the Adaptec board brings the right mix of technology, financial, and management experience to help drive Adaptec to the next level," Douglas E. Van Houweling, chairman of Adaptec's governance and nominating committee, said in a news release.

On Thursday, Adaptec sent a letter to its shareholders discussing Steel Partners II LP and its consent solicitation.

Adaptec believes Steel Partners is seeking to remove chief executive officer Subramanian "Sundi" Sundaresh from the board of directors in order to control the seven-member board without paying a premium to other stockholders, a claim Steel Partners denied.

Sundaresh was named CEO of the Milpitas, Calif., data storage company in November 2005.

Steel Partners, in a statement on Thursday, asked Adaptec shareholders to consider "whether Mr. Sundaresh has earned the right to continue to run and control Adaptec."

As previously reported, last week Steel Partners cited a Glass Lewis proxy report that stated that Steel Partners has "correctly identified a pattern of underperformance" at Adaptec and that Adaptec's financial results and underperformance call into question whether the company's board has provided enough oversight in recent years.

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