Brooke Sutherland, Columnist

Arconic's Park Avenue Digs Are Activist Catnip

Is this a huge cost in the scheme of things? No. Does it look bad? Yes.

February 9, 2017 at 7:07 PM UTC

Brooke Sutherland is Bloomberg News' Boston bureau chief and writes the Industrial Strength Newsletter. She was previously a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and industrial companies and an M&A reporter for Bloomberg News.

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Park Avenue's business corridor -- the row of steel-and-glass buildings that stretches from Grand Central Terminal to 59 Street -- is one of the more expensive places in America to have an office. It's home base to JPMorgan Chase & Co., boutique investment bank Greenhill & Co....and aluminum-parts maker Arconic Inc.?

The $12 billion company -- formerly known as Alcoa before spinning off its mining business last year -- is under fire from activist investor Elliott Management Corp., which is calling for CEO Klaus Kleinfeld's removal. You can read more about the campaign here, but among the hedge fund's complaints are Arconic's corporate overhead expenses and Kleinfeld's "globe-trotting" lifestyle. First Pacific Advisors, a top 10 holder that's backed Elliott, calls the 390 Park Avenue headquarters (at the iconic Lever House building) "excessively expensive."