In brief: Pinkerton Retirement Specialists to build new headquarters
Pinkerton Retirement Specialists, a North Idaho-based investment and asset management firm, will build a three-story corporate headquarters in the Riverstone commercial development, the company announced Wednesday.
The site is a 3-acre parcel on the north end of Riverstone Lake, east of the Spokane River.
The company bought the land more than two years ago, in a deal brokered by Casey Brazil of Kiemle & Hagood. It will start construction on the 32,000-square-foot office building in May, according to a news release.
The brick building, designed by Coeur d’Alene architect John Eixenberger, will include two luxury condos on the top floor.
CEO Dan Pinkerton said the building will accommodate the company’s growth. It recently acquired two investment advisory firms and is adding services for private clients and institutional investors.
In 2011, Barron’s financial magazine named Pinkerton the No. 1 financial adviser in Idaho for a second year in a row.
The firm has seven certified financial planners and 20 staff members in its Coeur d’Alene, Spokane and Cleveland offices.
Intrinium, Interlink merging
Two Spokane tech firms, Intrinium and Interlink, will merge, creating a 35-worker company covering a range of Web and technology services.
The new firm will be called Intrinium. At present the companies will stay in their current locations; Interlink operates at 609 N. Argonne Road in Spokane Valley, while Intrinium will remain at 105 W. Third Ave.
Kirt Runolfson founded Interlink in 1994. Its 11-person staff focuses on security, outsourced services, Web, email and cloud computing.
Intrinium, started by Nolan Garrett in 2007, provides information technology security and management consulting services. It has 24 workers.
It also has offices in Olympia and San Antonio, Texas.
Runolfson and Garrett began discussing the merger earlier this year. They saw ways for their firms to work together and develop a stronger service lineup for local and national customers.
The merger takes effect in January.
Saab wins Brazil jet contract
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s government said Wednesday that Sweden’s Saab won a long-delayed fighter jet contract initially worth $4.5 billion that will supply at least 36 planes to Latin America’s biggest nation.
The decision to buy the Saab jet over Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet or France’s Dassault Rafale came as a surprise to many. Some analysts said Boeing’s bid was hurt by reports that the U.S. conducted extensive spying in Brazil, including a direct targeting of President Dilma Rousseff’s own communications.
Brazil wants the jets to ramp up its defense capabilities to patrol a porous land border that’s more than 9,300 miles long, much of it covered by jungle, over which arms and drugs easily flow. Brazil also seeks better protection for offshore oil fields it has discovered in recent years.
Defense Minister Celso Amorim said the choice after some 15 years of debate was made following “careful study and consideration, taking into account performance, transfer of technology and cost, not just of acquisition but of maintenance.”
Revelations six months ago that the U.S. National Security Agency’s mammoth espionage program included widespread spying on Brazil was likely a factor in Saab being chosen, some analysts said. Brazilian anger over the spying led Rousseff to cancel a planned state visit to Washington in October.