News

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has approved a five-year $1.5 million loan guarantee to support the $1.65 million sale by CBI Company Ltd., Woodland, TX, of six fuel storage tanks to Alka Wenker S.A. in Guatemala City, Guatemala. CBI, a wholesaler and contractor owned by Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., specializes in erecting storage tanks built by its parent or related companies.

The tanks will be used by Carburantes y Petroleos, S.A., a company affiliated with Alka Wenker by common ownership, to provide the Alka Wenker group with storage facilities for its network of 60 gas stations. The tanks will free the company from paying for storage services and provide efficient delivery of fuel to meet growing demand in remote rural areas.

This transaction demonstrates the opportunities for growth in trade with Central America that are driving the Administration's efforts to develop a free trade agreement that covers all the Americas, said Dan Renberg, a member of the Ex-Im Bank Board of Directors. Ex-Im Bank is committed to supporting U.S. companies that are trying to expand their sales to Guatemala and other countries in this region, which will strengthen their economies and our own.

Alka Wenker is the borrower and primary source of repayment on the transaction. The guaranteed lender is RZB Finance LLC, New York, NY.

Over the past five years, Ex-Im Bank helped 826 Texas companies in 131 communities export $6.7 billion in equipment and services. Ex-Im Bank authorized approximately $10.6 million in financing in support of U.S. exports to Guatemala in fiscal year 2002.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal government agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance. In fiscal year 2002, Ex-Im Bank authorized financing to support approximately $13 billion of U.S. exports worldwide.