Darden to sell Red Lobster seafood chain for $2.1 billion

(Reuters) – Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI.N ) said it agreed to sell its struggling Red Lobster seafood chain to Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion in cash.

The company said it expects net cash proceeds of about $1.6 billion, of which about $1 billion would be used to retire debt.

The remainder would be used to buy back up to $700 million of shares in fiscal 2015, Darden said.

(Reporting by Maria Ajit Thomas in Bangalore- Editing by Savio D’Souza)