P.M. BRIEFING : RJR Nabisco Confirms Move to N.Y.

RJR Nabisco Inc. announced today it is setting up headquarters on the Avenue of the Americas in New York, making the company’s move out of Atlanta official.

RJR Nabisco said in April it was planning to move from its suburban Atlanta headquarters to New York, and the company’s top executives have been operating out of temporary offices in New York for several months while maintaining an office here.

The tobacco and food giant moved to Atlanta from its longtime home in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1987. The company was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in a record-setting $24.5-billion debt-financed buyout that was finalized earlier this year.

“For the job we have ahead of us, New York is the place to be,” said RJR Nabisco Chairman Louis V. Gerstner Jr. “We plan to sink roots here (in New York).”