Aramark

The outside directors in Aramark Corp., which include a former governor of New Jersey and a corporate governance professor, have made millions of dollars through investment gains at the food-concessions company. One expert called the directors' financial gains "extraordinarily high" and noted that, ironically, the issue at many companies is how directors are underpaid. But Aramark said the directors' investment gains were appropriate and would lead to keen corporate oversight by the directors who have large personal stakes in company stock.

Philadelphia-based food services company ARAMARK Corp. announced yesterday it has agreed to acquire all of the food and beverage concessions and venue businesses of Ogden Corp. Ogden is the current concessionnaire at Veterans Stadium and the Sony-Blockbuster Music Entertainment Centre in Camden. Other customers include Wrigley Field, in Chicago, the MCI Center, in Washington, the Staples Center, in Los Angeles and the Conseco Fieldhouse, in Indianapolis. "The addition of these Ogden businesses and the outstanding quality of their customer base provide us with an opportunity to share our expertise and combine resources with these customers so that we can build a broader portfolio of unlimited partnerships," said Joseph Neubauer, Chairman and CEO of ARAMARK.

Davre J. Davidson, 83, founder and chairman of Aramark Corp. (formerly ARA Services), started in business vending penny bags of peanuts from the front seat of his 1932 Dodge and went on to build an international, multibillion- dollar service-management company. He died Friday of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Mr. Davidson and his wife, Charlotte, started the company on their kitchen table in the depths of the Depression. His first major account was Douglas Aircraft.

With hospitals under pressure to both cut costs and improve service, Aramark Corp. is trying to sign them to far-reaching outsourcing deals that will generate tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue, but are proving hard to manage at least initially. Aramark has said the deals, which entail hiring hundreds of employees to do everything from cooking patient meals and cutting the grass to cleaning and maintaining medical equipment such as MRIs or infusion pumps, are some of the most complex they have done.

Cafeterias in many Philadelphia public schools this year are under private management for the first time, and district officials said nicer-looking environs and better food are on the way. The district has hired Philadelphia-based Aramark to manage its full-service cafeterias in 115 schools, serving more than 100,000 students. Its other 155 schools will continue to get prepackaged meals through an existing contract with another company. The Aramark contract, approved by the School Reform Commission in June and touted yesterday in a news release from Aramark, is worth $120 million over five years, with the option to renew each year.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius L.L.P. is set to announce the hiring of Bart J. Colli, the former general counsel of Aramark Corp., one of Philadelphia's largest employers, as a partner in its business and finance practice. The firm said it anticipated that Colli would provide key insights and tactics as the firm sought to work with financially pressed legal departments of clients seeking to cut costs. "Having overseen the legal department of a Fortune 250 company operating in 20 countries with 260,000 employees for over a decade gives Bart tremendous insight into the issues keeping in-house counsel up at night," said firm chairman Francis Milone.

Aramark Corp., which occupies 300,000 square feet of a skyscraper on East Market Street, is considering a move to New Jersey or Delaware. The company and its real estate agent, John Binswanger, would say yesterday only that they were considering several options. But City Commerce Director James J. Cuorato said yesterday that Aramark was being wooed by New Jersey and Delaware. Cigna Corp., which occupies 600,000 square feet - half of Two Liberty Place - also is being wooed by New Jersey.

Aramark Corp., a privately held Philadelphia food service provider and facilities manager, said Monday that it would borrow money to pay a $712 million dividend to its shareholders. The company's shareholders include private equity firms GS Capital Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Warburg Pincus L.L.C., which in aggregate own more than 60 percent of the company. In addition, longtime chief executive Joseph Neubauer owns 9.54 percent of the company, which was taken private in January 2007 for $8.3 billion, including equity and assumed debt.

The National Labor Relations Board in Philadelphia filed unfair-labor-practice charges this week against Aramark Corp., accusing the Philadelphia food-service company of withholding union dues and failing to bargain. A hearing is set for May 3 before a Philadelphia NLRB administrative law judge. More than 1,300 Aramark workers at the Convention Center, St. Joseph's University, the University of Pennsylvania's Steinberg Conference Center, the Wachovia Center, Citizens' Bank Park, and Lincoln Financial Field are affected.