The US export credit agency Export Import Bank of the Unites States is to see its lending cap increased to US$140bn following the passing of the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act through Congress.
On 15 May, the US Senate voted 78-20 in favour of…
The US export credit agency Export Import Bank of the Unites States is to see its lending cap increased to US$140bn following the passing of the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act through Congress.
On 15 May, the US Senate voted 78-20 in favour of the bipartisan bill that extends the bank’s charter for a further two years to September 2014 and will gradually increase its loan-exposure cap to US$140bn from its current US$100bn level. The bill also includes certain transparency requirements for deals over US$100m which give potentially interested parties the opportunity to comment on the transaction.
President Barack Obama has indicated that he will sign the legislation.
Fred Hochberg, the chairman of the US ExIm Bank, commented: “The Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2012 will allow the Bank to continue financing US exports to meet foreign competition and fill the void when commercial funding is unavailable. And the Bank will continue to play a critical role in our economic recovery at no cost to the American taxpayers.
“Last year the Bank set export finance records for the third straight year. Overall authorizations hit US$32.7bn, supporting US$40bn in export sales and 290,000 American jobs at more than 3,600 US companies. More than 85% of these transactions were for small businesses. Ex-Im is on track to meet the growing demand for export financing this fiscal year as well and small business transactions currently account for more than 22% of the Bank’s overall authorizations.
The biggest beneficiary of 2011’s US$32.7bn of loan authorizations was aerospace giant Boeing which saw approximately US$11bn of Ex-Im backed financing. While this was dominated by its aircraft manufacturing unit, the company’s satellite operations have also tapped the ECA with the Ex-Im backed US$700m loan to MSS operator Inmarsat to help fund Boeing’s construction of its three Ka-band I-5 satellites.
Boeing is also set to utilise Ex-Im Bank support as part of the debt financing that will help fund the four satellite joint-procurement agreement with Mexican satellite operator Satmex and its Asian peer Asia Broadcast Satellite.
Other Ex-Im backed satellite financings include a US$116.6m loan from BNP Paribas to help fund the construction of Azerspace by Orbital Sciences and last year’s US$228m 8.6-year loan provided by JP Morgan to Spanish satellite operator Hispasat to finance the Space Systems Loral built Amazonas-3.
