Ex-Im Approves more than $66 Million in Financing for Export of Power-Generation Equipment to Turkey

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a $66.3 million guarantee in favor of UPS Capital Business Credit's loan to Bis Enerji Elektrik Uretim AS (Bis) of Turkey for the export of American power-generation equipment to the Republic of Turkey.

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Ex-Im Bank's financing will support more than 160 American jobs in Houston, Texas; Wellsville, N.Y.; Orlando, Fla.; and Lewiston, Maine.

"Ex-Im Bank's loan guarantee affords the U.S. companies involved in the transaction an opportunity to export their American-made products to a Turkish market hungry for electricity," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. "Equally important is the loan guarantee's impact on American jobs, which will benefit from the increased business."

"We see UPS Capital Business Credit's participation in this particular Ex-Im Bank financing opportunity as a reflection of our company's commitment to helping customers grow their exports," added Bob Bernabucci, president of UPS Capital.  "Export growth is critical not only to the U.S. economy but also to the creation of jobs."

This represents Ex-Im Bank's second transaction involving Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS of Ankara, Turkey, which participated in support of BIS Energy, and will finance the export of a General Electric Packaged Power Inc. turbine and generator, a Dresser-Rand steam turbine generator, a World Control International Inc. heat recovery steam generator, a WahlcoMetroflex Inc. diverter damper unit, and associated installation services.

"Bis Enerji, now with its sixth installation of GE LM 6000 Gas Turbine Generator set since 1993, is a long time and repeat customer of GE Power & Water and Ex-Im Bank. Ex-Im Bank's financing support in each of those transactions has been a key factor in GE's success and a boon to GE's jobs, and it has broadened exports from other US suppliers to Bis Enerji as well," stated Mohammad Kudia, the managing director of GE Sales & Project Finance, the financing advisor to Bis Enerji.

Bis will employ the new equipment at its power plant in Bursa, Turkey, to expand its current electricity-production capacity by 76 megawatts. The project will convert a pre-existing simple-cycle turbine into a combined-cycle operation that will rely upon a steam turbine heat recovery steam generator. Ex-Im Bank supported four previous expansions of the plant's output.  

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Bursa, Bis supplies electricity to domestic markets and has worked with Ex-Im Bank since 1997. The company's Bursa power plant is the largest private sector plant of its kind in the Bursa industrial zone of Turkey, and it generates electricity by way of natural gas.

Turkey accounted for approximately $3.8 billion of the Bank's worldwide credit exposure as of the end of FY 2011, and in FY 2011 alone the Bank authorized $2.1 billion in export financing for American goods and services bound for Turkish markets.

Also in FY 2011, the Bank authorized $2.2 billion in power-generation transactions worldwide.  

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 $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. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.

SOURCE Export-Import Bank of the United States