It’s Showdown Time for Gillette

Like prizefighters facing a championship bout, Gillette Co. and Coniston Group approach today’s scheduled confrontation each hoping different strategies will help them deliver a decisive blow.

Acknowledging its underdog role, Gillette hopes a coalition of loyal shareholders and last-minute support from large institutions will render enough votes to thwart Coniston’s attempt to oust four directors at the Gillette annual meeting in Andover, Mass.

New York-based Coniston is expected to enter brash and confident with the apparent backing of several major Gillette shareholders.

Since Coniston said more than two months ago that it would seek control of Gillette, the two rivals have conducted a verbal slugfest in the press and the courts.

Coniston seeks to replace four Gillette directors with its candidates, who are committed to the sale and divestiture of the worldwide empire Gillette built around personal care products.

The sale is designed to increase profitability and further boost stock prices of Gillette, which Coniston contends is still mired by the nearly $580 million paid to Revlon Group Inc. in 1986 to abandon its repeated takeover attempts.

Gillette, however, has countered by pointing out to its nearly 27,000 shareholders a steady rise in earnings since the company laid off 2,400 workers and sold several unprofitable divisions after signing a 10-year no-takeover pact with Revlon in November, 1986. Last week, Gillette indicated that it is considering closing some North American plants.