U.S. Locomotive and Mining Equipment Manufacturers Sell to Canadian Customer, Backed for First Time by Ex-Im Bank Financing
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. manufacturers and suppliers are selling locomotives and mining equipment to a Canadian customer, Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), backed by a total of $54.4 million in loan guarantees from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank). The sale is keeping American workers on the job in a number of states, including Illinois and Wisconsin.
Electro-Motive Diesel Inc., La Grange, Ill. (EMD), and its U.S. suppliers are providing seven EMD SD70ACE locomotives to IOC for its railroad subsidiary, Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway Company Inc. (QNS&L). A $10.03 million Ex-Im Bank loan guarantee is supporting the sale. It is Ex-Im Bank's first financing for IOC.
IOC also is buying electric shovels, off-highway trucks, dozers and other mining equipment from various U.S.-based manufacturers, including Komatsu America Corp., Peoria, Ill.; Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., and Harnischfeger Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisc. The sale is backed by a $44.4 million Ex-Im Bank loan guarantee.
This transaction is Ex-Im Bank's first with EMD in five years, and we stand ready to support follow-on business if needed, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. IOC is more likely to continue to buy U.S.-manufactured equipment, even during economic downturns, if it knows that Ex-Im Bank financing is a viable alternative when other sources of long-term financing are limited or unavailable.
Societe General New York is the facility agent. The two funders on the transaction are Societe General New York and Comerica Bank.
Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency, now in its 75th year, helps to 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 2009, which ended September 30, Ex-Im Bank authorized more than $21 billion in support of U.S. exports and associated jobs, the highest financing level since the Bank was established in 1934. The Bank also set a record for financing of U.S. small business exports at $4.36 billion. More information is available on the Bank's web site at www.exim.gov.