UPDATE 2-Shareholders back Ryerson board slate

(Recasts first sentence, adds CEO comment, details, background, updates stock action)

By Ben Klayman

CHICAGO, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Shareholders of Ryerson Inc. RYI.N on Thursday elected directors nominated by the steel services company over a rival slate from activist investor Harbinger Capital, clearing the way for a vote on a proposed buyout by private equity firm Platinum Equity.

Ryerson Chief Executive Neil Novich said at a shareholder meeting here that based on preliminary votes it appeared all 11 Ryerson nominees had been re-elected. The company later confirmed the results in a statement.

Earlier, Harbinger Managing Director Larry Clark said it appeared the vote had not gone Harbinger's way. The final results are expected within two weeks, Ryerson said.

Harbinger, which had argued the Ryerson board underperformed and lacked the industry knowledge to adequately review the Platinum deal, had put forth a slate of seven people it wanted installed on the company's board. The hedge fund has been fighting for change at Ryerson since early this year.

Harbinger decided to push ahead with the proxy battle after Ryerson agreed last month to be bought by Platinum Equity for more than $1 billion. Ryerson, which put itself up for sale earlier this year under pressure from Harbinger, agreed to be sold for $34.50 per share, which was less than the $34.96 shares were then trading at.

The deal is expected to be voted on by shareholders some time in the fourth quarter, Ryerson executives said.

"This is a fair price," Novich told Reuters after the meeting. "It's a very full price."

Harbinger, which owns 9.6 percent of Ryerson stock according to Reuters data, said it had not yet decided whether to support that deal. "We have not thought that far ahead," Clark told Reuters.

"If we're in the same kind of market that we're in today, facing the same uncertainty in the capital markets, probably the deal goes through," he said. "If we see a rebound in the equity markets, if the debt market shows stability, people may question if there's not a better deal out there at some point in the future."

He declined to comment on whether the fund would sell its shares in Ryerson.

Shares of Ryerson were up 27 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $32.98 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Ben Klayman in Chicago, writing by Megan Davies in New York)