ISS is urging Post shareholders to vote for the existing executive slate and against former chairman John A. Williams, who is taking out full-page advertisements to promote his corporate candidates. The ISS report suggests the sale of Post is "more likely, if Williams wins."

Goddard hails the ISS statement as strong ammunition for his team in the proxy fight. "ISS correctly found that the true issue in this proxy contest is, 'which team is more likely to create value for shareholders in the future?'" Goddard says, "their answer was Post's current board and management."

He says the ISS vote of confidence of Post management is important because ISS is "recognized as the nation's leading independent proxy voting and corporate governance advisory firm."

A Williams spokesperson says the man who founded Post 32 years ago in an Atlanta suburb was not impressed with the ISS report because ISS generally backs existing management in proxy battles. Institutional investors own about 65% of Post's outstanding stock, according to a published report.

Leading the list is Williams with 2.87 million shares or 7.3% of the company's total outstanding shares. Behind him are Shapiro Capital Management, 1.68 million shares or 4.5%; Cohen & Steers Capital Management, 1.54 million shares or 4.1%; Teachers Advisors, 1.43 million shares or 3.8%; Deutsche Bank, 1.3 million shares or 3.5%; Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, 1.26 million shares or 3.4%; AXA Financial, 1.24 million shares or 3.3%; High Rise Capital, 1.22 million shares or 3.3%; Vanguard Group, 984,072 shares or 2.6%; and Morgan Stanely, 829,889 shares or 2.2%.

Post director Ronald de Waal owns 465,653 shares or 1.3% of the company's total outstanding shares. John Glover owns 325,452 shares or 0.87%.