Darden Restaurants Names Bill Lenehan As CEO Of Proposed REIT - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Full service restaurants operator Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) announced that Bill Lenehan has been named CEO of its proposed real estate company Four Corners Property Trust, Inc., effective August 17.

The real estate company is expected to be separated from Darden later this year in a spin-off, split-off or similar transaction.

Four Corners is expected to elect to be subject to tax as a real estate investment trust (REIT) effective January 1, 2016. Until the separation, Lenehan will report to Darden CEO Gene Lee.

As a result of this appointment, Lenehan, who currently sits on Darden's Board of Directors and is running for reelection at the company's 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, will resign from the Board if and when the separation of Four Corners occurs. He also will no longer serve on any of the independent committees of Darden's Board effective immediately.

Lenehan has a strong track record of success in real estate including two years as Special Advisor to the Board of Directors at Evoq Properties Inc. Prior to that, Lenehan served as Interim CEO of MI Developments, now named Granite REIT.

He also spent about ten years as an Investment Professional in the Real Estate Group of Farallon Capital Management, LLC.