U.S. Firms to Benefit from Ex-Im Bank $80 Million Guarantee Facility Backing Purchases by Mexico's Comision Federal de Electricidad
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. providers of electric plant equipment and services have an opportunity to participate in $94 million of sales to Mexico's national electricity provider, Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), backed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).
Ex-Im Bank has approved a new $80 million medium-term credit guarantee facility to provide financing support for up to 85% of the value of CFE's purchases of equipment and services from as-yet-unselected U.S. suppliers. The purchases will help maintain and upgrade various of CFE's 150 electricity-generating plants. The state-owned electric utility provides 92 percent of Mexico's electricity.
This credit guarantee facility represents a tremendous opportunity for U.S. exporters, large and small, to secure orders from Comision Federal de Electricidad, expand their businesses, and sustain American jobs in the process, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President James H. Lambright.
Ex-Im Bank has had a long-term favorable relationship with CFE in numerous previous credit financing transactions. The latest facility will help CFE meet its capital expenditure needs to maintain and expand electricity generating capacity in coming years.
The guaranteed lender on the transaction is BNP-Paribas, New York, N.Y. CFE is the primary source of repayment.
Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency, now in its 74th year, helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans. In fiscal year 2007, Ex-Im Bank authorized $12.6 billion in financing to support an estimated $16 billion of U.S. exports worldwide. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.