EXPORT-IMPORT BANK SAYS U.S. EXPORTS IN MAY WERE $195.5 BILLION

FROM:  U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK 
U.S. Exports Reach $195.5 Billion in May

Export-Import Bank Financing Support Helps Create American Jobs

Washington, D.C. – The United States exported $195.5 billion of goods and services in May 2014, according to data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department.

“The numbers show that the world’s consumers continue to value U.S. goods and services for their quality and reliability,” said Export-Import Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “Given a level playing field, U.S. exporters can compete with anyone in the world, and Ex-Im Bank is proud to support them abroad as they support jobs here at home.”

Exports of goods and services over the last twelve months totaled $2.3 trillion, which is 45.7 percent above the level of exports in 2009, and have been growing at an annualized rate of 8.9 percent when compared to 2009.

During the same time period among the major export markets (i.e., markets with at least $6 billion in annual imports of U.S. goods), the countries with the largest annualized increase in U.S. goods purchases, when compared to 2009, were Panama (22.5 percent), Russia (19.6 percent), Peru (17.9 percent), Colombia (17.4 percent), Ecuador (17.3 percent), Hong Kong (17.3 percent), Argentina (16.3 percent), Nigeria (15.1 percent), Chile (14.8 percent) and Indonesia (14.6 percent).

EX-IM BANK GUARANTEES BOND FOR EXPORTED SERVICES BY DELTA AIR LINES DIVISION

FROM:  EXPORT-IMPORT BANK
GOL Issues $41 Million Ex-Im Bank-Guaranteed Bond for Services Exported by Delta TechOps, MRO Division of Delta Air Lines 

Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed financing supports an estimated 400 jobs at Delta TechOps

Washington, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) today announced the successful issuance of an Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed bond funded by the capital markets that raised $40.7 million for the Brazilian airline, VRG Linhas Aéreas S.A. (GOL), for engine-maintenance services performed by Delta TechOps in Atlanta, Ga. Delta TechOps is the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) division of Delta Air Lines Inc.

The Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed bond was issued in mid-February to raise the funds to reimburse GOL for costs related to engine-maintenance services performed by Delta TechOps in 2013. The two-year bond bears interest at a fixed rate of 0.622 percent.

GOL issued the bond under a $45.5 million guarantee authorized by Ex-Im Bank in May 2013 to support Delta TechOps exports to the Brazilian airline. The financing is supporting an estimated 400 jobs at Delta TechOps, according to Ex-Im Bank’s jobs-calculation methodology.

"With this transaction, Ex-Im Bank continues to support hundreds of highly-skilled jobs of Delta TechOps in Atlanta," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "Our guarantee made possible the capital-markets funding of these services under Delta TechOps’s multiyear contract with GOL, a longtime Ex-Im Bank customer in Latin America.”

"Delta TechOps, a division of Delta Air Lines, is performing essential aircraft-engine maintenance and overhaul services for our existing fleet," said Paulo Kakinoff, chief executive officer of GOL. "The availability of Ex-Im Bank’s financing was the key to our choosing this U.S. provider for these services and is strengthening the partnership between our two companies."

The February 2014 issuance was the third successful Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed bond issuance to finance engine-maintenance services. The previous two issuances, which also supported Delta TechOps’s services to GOL, were done in 2012 under an $84.8 million Ex-Im Bank commitment approved the same year. The transaction earned Ex-Im Bank an Airfinance Journal “Deal of the Year” award in April 2013. The financing covered the first two years of GOL’s five-year engine-maintenance contract with Delta TechOps that was signed in December 2010.

In accordance with the contract, Delta TechOps is performing heavy maintenance on GOL's CFM56-7B engines that are installed on the airline's Boeing 737 next generation aircraft fleet. Delta TechOps is providing GOL with up to 253 scheduled engine removals and additional unscheduled removals. The GOL engines are shipped from São Paulo, Brazil, to Atlanta for heavy maintenance performed by Delta TechOps.

EXPORT-IMPORT BANK APPROVES A NEARLY $5 BILLION LOAN TO SADARA CHEMICAL COMPANY

Map:  Saudia Arabia.  Credit:  CIA World Factbook.

FROM: U.S. EXPORT-IMPORT BANK

Ex-Im Bank Approves Record-breaking Transaction
to Support More Than 18,000 Jobs
Washington, D.C. – In its largest job-supporting authorization to date, the board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has approved a $4.975 billion direct loan to Sadara Chemical Company for the export of American goods and services required in the construction of a petrochemical complex in Jubail Industrial City II in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

According to estimates calculated from U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the financing will support approximately 18,400 American jobs, 12.5 percent of which come directly or indirectly from small businesses, in 13 states. Among the approximately 70 American exporters involved in the transaction are KBR, ABB Inc., and The Dow Chemical Company. More than 20 of the exporters are small businesses.

"Today the board approved a record-breaking transaction that will support more than 18,000 American jobs across 13 states," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "No other transaction in Ex-Im Bank’s storied history has supported as many American jobs as this transaction, and no other single transaction has provided so much support to small businesses. Furthermore, the manufacturing jobs supported by this transaction will in turn support other jobs, allowing the benefits of the transaction to reverberate throughout key corners of the U.S. economy."

Located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the mega-project will develop significant downstream capabilities for production in the fast-growing markets of the Middle East. Sadara will be the largest integrated petrochemical complex ever constructed in a single phase and will comprise of 26 process units producing more than 3 million metric tons of ten major product families of chemical products and specialty plastics per year. The complex will become operational in 2016, and its products will be available in markets throughout the world.

Sadara Chemical Company, organized and existing under the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is a joint venture developed by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and Dow.

Headquartered in Midland, Mich., The Dow Chemical Company, and its consolidated subsidiaries (Dow), delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions through the production, marketing, and sales of specialty chemicals and advanced materials and plastics. Dow operates manufacturing sites in 36 countries and employs approximately 52,000 people.

"This historic investment is an enormous opportunity – to drive growth and create thousands of jobs here in the U.S. The surest way to grow our economy is to make high-value, innovative products in America, and to bring them to market all over the world," said Andrew N. Liveris, chairman and chief executive officer of The Dow Chemical Company. "Ex-Im Bank's action will allow U.S. manufacturers to do just that – to sell equipment and services to the largest industrial complex ever built in a single phase – namely, Sadara. Thanks to the manufacturing sector’s unmatched multiplier effect, this will create thousands of additional jobs across the entire economy."

Saudi Aramco, wholly owned by the Saudi government and based in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, manages the largest proven reserves of conventional crude oil in the world and the fourth largest gas reserves. The company was incorporated in the early 1940s and employs approximately 55,000 people.

The loan marks Ex-Im Bank’s second petrochemical transaction in Saudi Arabia. Other export-credit agencies participating in the transaction include Export Credits Guarantee Department of the United Kingdom, Hermes of Germany, Compagnie Française d'Assurance pour le Commerce Extérieur of France, the Korea Export-Import Bank, and the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation.

Aquatech International, a Canonsburg, Pa.-based small business engaged in the transaction, will provide water-treatment equipment for the complex. The company specializes in zero-liquid-discharge treatment, water reuse, and desalination.

"We at Aquatech are very pleased that the board of directors of Ex-Im Bank has approved the financing for the Sadara project," said Venkee Sharma, president and CEO of Aquatech. "This particular project has helped Aquatech to retain 50-plus jobs at its Canonsburg, Pa. facility, as well as numerous jobs within our supply chain. Ex-Im Bank has had a positive impact on our continued growth and job creation for the last two decades."

Saudi Arabia accounted for $2 billion of Ex-Im Bank’s credit exposure as of the end of FY 2011, and during the same year the Bank authorized $1.4 million in financing for the export of American goods and services to the Kingdom.

In FY 2012 to date (the present transaction excluded), Ex-Im Bank has approved approximately $3.9 billion worth of authorizations in the Middle East and North Africa.