https://nypost.com/2020/12/11/the-defense-industry-swamp-is-eager-to-engulf-the-biden-administration/
Just days after the presidential election, a new investment firm called Pine Island Acquisition Corporation quietly began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, with the prospect of becoming a notable player in the $2 trillion defense and aerospace industry. The company’s greatest asset was not its relatively modest bankroll goal of $200 million, but its connections — deep ties to policy establishment figures shaping the incoming Biden administration.
In describing itself to potential investors, Pine Island’s prospectus boasted a leadership team with “extensive access, insight, expertise and management skill” in the defense sector.
In the dawning Biden era, that might be an understatement.
Pine Island was established as a “blank-check company” by Pine Island Capital, a small private-equity firm based in Fort Lauderdale. Among that firm’s partners are Michèle Flournoy and Antony Blinken, two of the president-elect’s top foreign-policy advisers. Blinken, who served as Vice President Joe Biden’s national-security adviser and, later, deputy secretary of state, is Biden’s pick to lead the State Department. Gen. Lloyd Austin, Biden’s nominee for defense secretary, is also listed as one of the firm’s “DC Partners.”
Pine Island recently lowered its fundraising goal from an initial target of $300 million, a move that appears to have expedited its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. While that move will reduce its available capital, it appears to position the company’s shareholders to benefit from any positive news stemming from a potential nomination of any of its partners.