Ex-Im Bank Backs Sale of GE Gas Turbine Generator Set to Fast-Growing Turkish Market - Small Business Participates

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- An Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) $37.4 million long-term loan guarantee is supporting the export of GE Energy's aeroderivative gas turbine generator set and related U.S. equipment and services for a power project in Turkey.  In addition to GE, Wahlcometroflex, Division of Senior Operations LLC, a small business in Lewiston, Maine, is supplying an exhaust bypass for the project.

The Turkish export sale will sustain over 525 jobs at GE's factories in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Houston, Texas, and at its suppliers, small and large, around the United States.

"This transaction is an example of the enormous potential for sales by U.S. infrastructure suppliers to Turkey," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg.  "It gives U.S. companies the opportunity to sell high-quality goods and services to Turkey to support high-paying export-related American jobs -- and at the same time contribute to Turkey's growth."  

Turkey is one of nine dynamic economies with a growing appetite for infrastructure development that Ex-Im Bank has identified as offering U.S. companies the greatest opportunities for increased export sales.  The project is the latest of several GE gas turbine power projects that Ex-Im Bank has financed in Turkey.

"Ex-Im Bank's continued support has been key to GE Energy's success in the Turkish energy market and to Turkey meeting its growing energy infrastructure needs using GE's world class gas turbine technology," said GE Vice President Darryl Wilson.

"Ex-Im support helps us win international sales," said Wahlcometroflex Vice President/General Manager John Powell. "Our gas turbine-related equipment is a very important product line for us, and this sale will help us keep more people employed in coming months."  Wahlcometroflex currently has 97 employees.

The buyer, Ales Elektrik Uretim ve Ticaret A.S. (Ales), will build and operate the 62-megawatt combined-cycle gas-fired power project in Aydin province in southwest Turkey.  J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, New York, N.Y., is the guaranteed lender, and GE Capital Markets Services is the financial advisor, on the transaction.

The Ex-Im Bank cover will account for 60 percent of the requested $37.4 million, with the remainder to be cofinanced by COFACE and EKF, the French and Danish export credit agencies (ECAs), respectively, to cover French and Danish content for the project.

The GE LM6000PC Sprint gas turbine generator will keep NOx emissions low by using demineralized water.  In 2008, Ex-Im Bank supported the export of the same type of GE turbine for a power project in Turkey with Delta Enerji.  

Ex-Im Bank's guarantee was needed due to the unavailability of long-term private uncovered financing in Turkey.  The Ex-Im Bank support enabled the U.S. exporters to match competition from European power generation equipment suppliers backed by their governments' ECAs.

Ex-Im Bank, an independent, self-sustaining federal agency, helps create and maintain American jobs by filling gaps in export financing and strengthening U.S. export competitiveness.

During the first four months of Fiscal Year 2011 (Oct. 2010 through Jan. 2011), Ex-Im Bank approved $8.25 billion in total financing authorizations, supporting $10.3 billion in U.S. exports and approximately 75,000 American jobs.  For more information on Ex-Im Bank, visit www.exim.gov.

SOURCE Export-Import Bank of the United States