News

More than 25 US capital equipment manufacturers in 13 states are benefiting from a long-term loan guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) that supported $19.6 million in US exports to the FEVISA Group in Mexico for the expansion of its glass container manufacturing facility in Mexicali in Baja California. Ex-Im Bank's $17.7 million guarantee is supporting a loan to the Fevisa Group from Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex), an active lender of Ex-Im Bank's financing in Mexico. Companies in the following states are suppliers: California, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Ex-Im Bank enjoys a successful, long-standing relationship with Banamex that benefits both the United States and Mexico. Over several decades, we have worked with Banamex to support millions of dollars worth of US exports to Mexico, our largest market in Latin America. This transaction shows how one contract to this important market can create sales for many different suppliers throughout the United States, Ex-Im Bank Chairman James A. Harmon said.

Emhart Glass Inc. of Windsor, CT, is the largest US supplier on the transaction. The company sold glass manufacturing equipment, control systems, and inspection and process control equipment to the FEVISA Group, a regular customer. Patrick Battersby, sales director for Emhart Glass Inc., said that Ex-Im Bank's financing is critical to this kind of sale.

There's no doubt that Ex-Im Bank's financing plays a major role in our being able to work with our customers — it's a big plus as a sales tool. In this transaction as well as in some recent sales to Argentina, we were able to help the customer make use of the financing available to them through Ex-Im Bank, Battersby said.

With 120 employees, Pennsylvania Crusher Corporation of Broomall, PA, is one of the small US suppliers under the contract. The company sold to the FEVISA Group one of its double toggle jaw crushers, a product for which Pennsylvania Crusher Corporation is well known to major glass manufacturers around the world. The company produces an entire line of bulk

materials handling equipment that it sells to international customers in the Pacific Rim, South America, and Eastern Europe, among other markets. Many of these exports have been facilitated by Ex-Im Bank's financing.

Most of the time, Ex-Im Bank assists in the financing of our capital equipment sales to international projects. Even when we are not directly involved in the financing, our company still benefits indirectly as a supplier because Ex-Im Bank's involvement allows our sale to go through, said Don Carrozzino, chief financial officer of Pennsylvania Crusher Corporation.

In addition to serving as the guaranteed lender on this long-term transaction (repayment term of eight years), Banamex, is also one of the most active users in Mexico of Ex-Im Bank's Credit Guarantee Facility Program. Ex-Im Bank's credit guarantee facility provides a line of credit for Banamex to on-lend to Mexican buyers on medium terms of repayment (usually two to five years). The program has enabled US companies to sell millions of dollars worth of exports to smaller Mexican companies that otherwise might not have been eligible for financing.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent US government agency that assists in financing the export of US goods and services to developing markets around the world by providing export credit insurance, working capital guarantees, loan guarantees, and direct loans. In fiscal year 1998, Ex-Im Bank authorized more than $1.6 billion to support US exports to Mexico, the Bank's single largest market last year. Ex-Im Bank supported $13 billion of US exports worldwide in FY 1998.