EX-IM BANK SIGNS AGREEMENT TO SUPPORT PHILIPPINE POWER PROJECT
(MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES) — The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support the first completely private power transaction in the Philippines.
The transaction, if approved by Ex-Im Bank's Board of Directors, will provide $444 million in Ex-Im Bank financing for the sale of U.S. goods and services to Quezon Power Limited for a 440-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Quezon Province.
This project will help develop private sector electric power generation in the Philippines, and sustain thousands of well-paying American jobs, said Ex-Im Bank President and Chairman Martin A. Kamarck in signing the agreement at a ceremony in Manila, presided over by U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Kamarck's visit to the Philippines coincides with the meeting of government and business leaders in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
The sponsors of the project are Intergen and Ogden Energy of the United States, and PMR Power, Inc. of the Philippines. Bechtel Overseas Corp. headquartered in San Francisco, CA will provide engineering and procurement services. The deal will involve suppliers around the country, including Foster Wheeler, General Electric, Honeywell, Westinghouse and Joy Environmental.
It will be Ex-Im Bank's seventh project finance deal in The Philippines, more than the Bank has financed in any other country in the world. The Quezon deal would bring the Bank's total authorizations for project financing in the Philippines to $1.2 billion.
Limited recourse project finance is a type of private financing where repayment is based on project revenues, rather than a government guarantee of the debt. Demand for such financing in developing countries has soared in recent years amid growing privatization, the need to reduce sovereign debt, and projections of unprecedented economic growth.
Ex-Im Bank is an independent government agency that helps create American jobs by financing and promoting the sale of U.S. goods and services around the world.