Ex-Im Bank Supports $101 Million Gas Turbine Generator Export to Turkey
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has approved a $104.8 million loan guarantee to support the sale by GE Energy, Houston, Tex., of power generating equipment and services for a new plant in the Samsun region of northern Turkey.
Cengiz Enerji Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S. (Cengiz Enerji) is buying two GE LMS100 aero-derivative gas turbine generator packages to build a 240 megawatt combined cycle gas-fired power project on the same site as an existing diesel-fueled combined-cycle plant. It is Ex-Im Bank's first financing of GE's new LMS100 turbine, which according to GE combines a high level of operational flexibility with output and fuel efficiency. GE also will provide technical supervision for the installation and commissioning of the new plant. Cengiz Enerji will sell the electricity it produces to the spot market.
JP Morgan Chase Bank is the guaranteed lender, and GE Capital Markets Corporate is the advisor-arranger on the transaction. The financing includes coverage of eligible local costs at the Turkish plant. EKF, Denmark's export credit agency, will provide co-financing for a portion of the transaction.
Ex-Im Bank is pleased to support this transaction, which helps maintain U.S. jobs while providing innovative GE gas turbine technology to Turkey for a project that meets all of the Bank's environmental standards, and will help meet Turkey's growing electricity demand, said Ex-Im Bank First Vice President and Vice Chair Linda Conlin. We look forward to supporting more U.S. exports to the promising Turkish market.
Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency, now celebrating its 75th anniversary, 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 2008, Ex-Im Bank authorized $14.4 billion in financing to support an estimated $19.6 billion of U.S. exports worldwide.