TIF Tiffany and Co

Newell Brands, fresh off a $15 billion merger with Jarden Corp., said Friday it will relocate its headquarters to from Atlanta to Hoboken, N.J., and open a hub there in a bid to tap East Coast talent for its growing e-commerce operations.

Newell also announced it hired Tiffany & Co. finance chief Ralph Nicoletti to be chief financial officer of the newly merged company. Mr. Nicoletti replaces John Stipancich, who is leaving after about a year as Newell's finance chief.

The maker of Sharpie markers and Rubbermaid containers has been based in Atlanta since 2008 and will keep a presence there, the company said Friday. Jarden was based in Boca Raton, Fla., though the company also has a hub in Norwalk, Conn.

The move saves Newell's top executives from long commutes. Newell CEO Michael Polk lives in New Jersey and commutes to Atlanta. Mr. Nicoletti and Chief Operating Officer Richard Sansone, who worked for Jarden, both are based in the New York area.

Fewer than a dozen jobs will be relocated from Atlanta, a person familiar with the matter said. The company said 250 to 300 people will eventually work in Hoboken, including employees that currently work in New York City. Newell employs about 60,000 around the globe.

"Our new location will unlock tremendous access to talent in these areas as we build a new future together," Mr. Polk said in a statement.

Newell said it received $27 million in tax incentives from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and that it would continue operations in Atlanta and elsewhere. Moving are the company's executive team along with, "certain corporate functions and the company's Transformation office," the company said. Newell also will expand its global e-commerce and design teams in the new location.

The Newell-Jarden deal, struck in December, creates a company with $16 billion in annual revenue that combines names like Newell's Paper Mate pens and Baby Jogger strollers with Jarden's Rawlings baseball gloves and Mr. Coffee machines.

Jason Gere, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, said the move makes sense, both for the purpose of attracting talent and to have a cohesive executive team. "They are taking on an intricate integration and this is the best of both worlds given the circumstances," he said.

Newell has a somewhat transient corporate history. Founded in 1903 in Ogdensburg, N.Y., the company for decades had operations scattered about the U.S. as it snapped up companies.

When Newell announced in 2003 that it would move its headquarters, which had landed in Freeport, Ill., to Atlanta, a story in the Chicago Tribune noted that the company's workforce was so far-flung that the loss meant surprisingly little to either workers or locals.

Newell didn't complete its move to Atlanta until 2008, and last year, moved its corporate headquarters to a smaller building. At that time, Mr. Polk said the company wouldn't consider moving from the city. "Move? Not on my watch would we ever consider getting up and moving. We love Atlanta, and our people love Atlanta," he told the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Mr. Nicoletti joined Tiffany in 2014, after veteran Tiffany executive James N. Fernandez announced his retirement that March. Before Tiffany, Mr. Nicoletti served as CFO at health insurer Cigna Corp and held various finance positions at Kraft Foods.

Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 13, 2016 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

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