The letter that Mr. Kleinfeld sent to Paul E. Singer, the billionaire founder of Elliott Management, on April 11 made elliptical references to the investor’s 2006 trip to the World Cup soccer championship in Berlin
and insinuated knowledge of “the great time” that Mr. Singer had.
But by April 17, the company said that Mr. Kleinfeld was leaving the company by “mutual consent.”
That face-saving arrangement did not sit well with Elliott, which sent another letter to Arconic’s directors criticizing the move as “insensitive to Mr. Singer, who is a victim of this conduct.”
A spokesman for Elliott declined to comment beyond the letters.
When Klaus Kleinfeld stepped down as the chairman and chief executive of Arconic on Monday, the company said his departure
was for showing “poor judgment” in sending a letter to the big hedge fund that had been calling for his ouster.
“While much of what it says doesn’t make sense, we do understand Dr. Kleinfeld to be making veiled suggestions
that he might intimidate or extort Mr. Singer based on Mr. Singer’s family trip to Germany in 2006 when he attended the World Cup.”
It is not clear whether Arconic replied to that letter.
The missive — accompanied by a soccer ball supposedly from the tournament — was interpreted by Elliott as a veiled attempt to intimidate Mr. Singer based on false premises,
and the hedge fund notified Arconic’s board about the communication.