CONSUMER PRODUCTS
Times Staff and Wire Reports
RJR Says Spinoff Initiative Was Defeated: RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp. said it believes a nonbinding proposal calling for an immediate spinoff of its food business did not receive the necessary majority of shareholder votes. But the estimate was immediately challenged by dissident shareholder Bennett LeBow and his Brooke Group Ltd., which said it has not completed counting the votes for the controversial consent solicitation. The deadline for shareholder votes was midnight Thursday. New York-based RJR, which fiercely opposes a spinoff before 1997, said its belief was based on information received from its proxy solicitor.
