News

CENTENNIAL, COLO. - Stolle Machinery of Centennial, Colo., will be able to grow its business and sustain 230 jobs at its plants in Centennial and Englewood by selling $34 million of aluminum/steel can-making equipment to Saudi Arabia, backed by a direct loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).

At a news conference at Stolle's Centennial plant, Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg announced Ex-Im Bank's approval of the historic loan to Mahmood Saeed Collective Company (MSCC) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is the first-ever Ex-Im Bank loan approved to a private company in Saudi Arabia.

MSCC will use the Stolle equipment for a new aluminum can manufacturing facility in Jeddah that will make 800 million cans and 6 billion can ends annually to hold soft drinks, juice and vitamin water.

This is the type of financing support Ex-Im Bank can provide to small and medium-sized businesses throughout Colorado to help them grow sales and jobs by exporting, Hochberg said. We are committed to helping achieve President Barack Obama's National Export Initiative goal of doubling American exports in the next five years.

Hochberg was joined at the news conference by Stolle Machinery CEO David Groetsch and U.S. Senator Michael Bennet.

Put simply, international trade translates into jobs for Coloradans, said Bennet. This deal will help Stolle keep good-paying, high-quality jobs right here in Colorado. It also represents the type of opportunities Colorado businesses ought to know might be available to them so they can grow their operations, create jobs and help move our economy forward.

Earlier in the day Hochberg spoke at an Increasing Colorado's Participation in the Global Economy seminar at the University of Denver organized by Ex-Im Bank in cooperation with Sen. Bennet — one of a series of Exports Live! seminars held by Ex-Im Bank across the country. Google Manager of Online Sales John Nicoletti also participated in the seminar as Ex-Im Bank is partnering with Google to help Colorado's small businesses use the Internet to take advantage of marketing opportunities across the globe.

Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal government agency helps to create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sales of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans. More information is available on the Bank's web site at www.exim.gov, or by calling 1-800-565-3946 (1-800-565-EXIM) and selecting option 2.