Cendant Shuffles Board as Part of Settlement

Cendant Corp. said it is restructuring its board to comply with terms of a class-action settlement that arose out of accounting irregularities. The company, whose franchises include Century 21 real estate offices, Howard Johnson hotels and Avis car rentals, is reducing the number of directors to 13 from 15 and dropping one of four employee directors. Cendant said the changes, which will be put into effect at the company’s annual meeting next month, are two years ahead of the schedule specified in the settlement, reached in December. A U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., will hold a hearing June 28 to decide whether to approve the settlement. Cendant has sought to rebuild its reputation after disclosing that CUC International, which merged with HFS Inc. in 1997 to create Cendant, had engaged in irregular accounting practices to inflate earnings. Cendant has agreed to pay shareholders about $3 billion and make significant changes in corporate governance to settle the massive class-action lawsuit. Cendant closed up 63 cents at $17.88 on the NYSE.