NEW HAMPSHIRE SMALL BUSINESS TRIPLES EMPLOYMENT THROUGH EXPORT SALE SUPPORTED BY EX-IM BANK WORKING CAPITAL GUARANTEE
Imaging Automation Inc., a small business in Bedford, NH, that exports image capturing devices and related services, is using a $1.5 million Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed working capital loan from Fleet National Bank of Boston, MA, to help fulfill a $47 million sale to Argentina. The company is selling software and services to Siemens Germany, and hardware and custom program services to Siemens Argentina, the prime contractor to the Argentine government for its national identification card production. The contract has enabled Imaging Automation Inc. to add 100 new employees, more than tripling its staff.
This transaction is an excellent example of how Ex-Im Bank's Working Capital Guarantee Program can help a small business secure needed financing for a major export sale, Ex-Im Bank Chairman James A. Harmon said. The involvement of Fleet National Bank, an Ex-Im Bank delegated authority lender, enabled the company to obtain the working capital through their own lender in the region.
A small company normally is closed out of borrowing this much money based on foreign receivables, which are often excluded as collateral. Ex-Im Bank's working capital guarantee enabled us to use our foreign receivables to get the loan we needed for this export sale, which is having a tremendous impact on our company's growth, said Peter Amons, chief financial officer of Imaging Automation Inc. Amons added that exports account for 75 percent of the company's business.
Fleet National Bank has delegated authority to commit Ex-Im Bank's working capital guarantees without prior approval. Fleet Bank's vice president of export finance, Christopher Baker, said that his bank is expanding its portfolio of Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed working capital loans and aims to be among the top delegated authority lenders in the near future.
Ex-Im Bank's Working Capital Guarantee Program is an excellent program that fits perfectly with our customer base. We are working to educate our relationship managers in our business entrepreneurial service, middle-market, and asset-based lending groups to identify opportunities for our clients and advocate export financing through this program, Baker said.
Imaging Automation Inc. previously used an Ex-Im Bank working capital guarantee to obtain a loan for a sale to Ontario, Canada. The company learned about the program through Ex-Im Bank's City/State partner in New Hampshire, the New Hampshire International Trade Resource Center in Portsmouth.
Ex-Im Bank currently has 90 delegated authority lenders with 144 affiliates in the Working Capital Guarantee Program, which is expected to top $400 million in authorizations this fiscal year.
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 loan guarantees, loan guarantees, and direct loans. In fiscal year 1998, Ex-Im Bank supported $13 billion of US exports.