Ex-Im Bank Insurance Backs Oregon Firm's $2 Million Irrigation Equipment Sale To Mexican Sugar Giant
Washington, D.C.: Medium-term export credit insurance from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) is helping R.M. Wade, a 133 year old family-owned business located near Portland, successfully compete against rivals in Spain and Israel for the sale of $2 million of agricultural equipment to one of Mexico's leading sugar manufacturers and expand its foothold in an important international market.
R.M. Wade and its Mexican buyer needed a financing structure that would tie payments to the sugar cane crop cycle. The company approached Ex-Im Bank for a medium term insurance policy that enabled them to extend five-year financing on the shipment by assigning the proceeds to their lender, the Bank of America. Because Ex-Im Bank's export credit insurance program protects companies against risk of nonpayment by foreign buyers, it is easier for them to obtain financing for a sale. This transaction represents the first large, medium term insurance policy R.M. Wade has obtained from the bank, since it first became a customer over 20 years ago.
Ex-Im Bank's support is helping our small company offer financing comparable to our large foreign competitors and allowing us to establish a new relationship with one of the largest agricultural concerns in Mexico, said David Wendroff, R.M. Wade's treasurer.
Located in Tualatin, Oregon, just 12 miles south of Portland, the company was founded by R.M. Wade in 1865 and is now run by his great grandson, Edward Newbegin. R.M. Wade is the second-oldest continually run family-owned business in the state of Oregon.
Ex-Im Bank Board member Maria Luisa Haley said, This transaction represents another Ex-Im Bank success story: helping a small U.S. business compete globally while supporting local jobs and, just as important, retaining a tradition of excellence handed down through four generations of family ownership.
The Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that assists in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to industrializing and developing markets all over the world, by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance. Nationally, Ex-Im Bank supported approximately $12.4 billion in U.S. exports in the 1998 fiscal year.