$83 MILLION APPROVED BY EX-IM BANK FOR FINANCING LOCOMOTIVE SALES TO CANADA

The following excerpt is from the Export-Import Bank website:

Ex-Im Bank Approves $83 Million in Export Financing for Sale of U.S.  Locomotives to Canada

Transaction Supports 500 American Jobs Across Six States
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) approved an $83.1 million loan guarantee to support the sale of six American-made locomotives, railroad cars, and mining equipment to the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). This transaction supported 500 U.S. jobs across a range of American businesses in six states (Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin).

“As global infrastructure investment increases, high quality, American-made locomotives and equipment are in demand around the world,” said Fred P. Hochberg, chairman and president of Ex-Im Bank.  “Ex-Im is committed to ensuring that the financing is in place to allow American companies to win a growing share of these sales. These transactions bolster our manufacturing base, while creating, supporting and sustaining good jobs in communities across the United States.”

2011 was a record year in locomotive financing for Ex-Im Bank, with more than $550 million supporting the sale of American-made locomotives to hard to reach markets, including Kazakhstan and South Africa.

The U.S. companies involved in the IOC transaction include Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. (EMD) (LaGrange, Ill.), American Rail Car Industries Inc. (St. Charles, Mo.), Freightcar America Inc. (Chicago, Ill.), Harnischfeger Corp. (Milwaukee, Wisc.), Komatsu America Corp. (Peoria, Ill.), and Caterpillar, Inc. (Peoria, Ill.). Comerica Bank (Detroit, Mich.) is the guaranteed lender.

“These companies build products that are built to last and in the process they are building an American economy that is built to last – one that is driven by manufacturing, exports and the most talented and productive workers in the world,” added Hochberg.
This is the second order backed by Ex-Im Bank financing for IOC. The locomotives, railroad cars, and mining equipment are being used to expand IOC’s production in Labrador City, Newfoundland.

ABOUT EX-IM BANK
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past five years, Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers nearly $1.9 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.

Ex-Im Bank approved $32.7 billion in total authorizations in FY 2011 -- an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6 billion directly supporting small-business export sales -- also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $41 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 290,000 American jobs in communities across the country.”