Sadara Chemical Company Transaction is Awarded Ex-Im Bank Deal of the Year
Washington, D.C. - Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara), a joint venture developed by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), today received the 2013 Deal of the Year award from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank). The award was presented at Ex-Im Bank's 38th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
In September, 2012, Ex-Im Bank approved a $4.975 billion direct loan to Sadara - the largest in Ex-Im Bank's history - for the export of American goods and services required in the construction of a world-scale integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City II in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Of the total loan amount, over $600 million will be used to purchase goods and services from U.S. small businesses, also a record for a single transaction.
"This record-breaking transaction will support more than 18,000 American jobs in more than a dozen states, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. No other transaction in Ex-Im Bank's history has supported as many American jobs and no other single transaction has provided so much support to small businesses."
"This historic investment from Ex-Im Bank is enabling growth," said Carol Williams, executive vice president of Dow Operations and a member of Sadara's Board of Directors. "The U.S. is manufacturing and delivering high-value products to Sadara - the largest industrial complex ever built in a single phase - which is creating thousands of valuable U.S. jobs."
According to estimates calculated from U.S. Census Bureau statistics, Ex-Im's financing will support approximately 18,400 American jobs, 12.5 percent of which come directly or indirectly from small businesses, in 13 states. Among the approximately 70 American exporters involved in the transaction are KBR, ABB Inc., Fluor, Foster Wheeler and The Dow Chemical Company. More than 20 of the exporters are small businesses.
Located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the mega-project will develop significant downstream capabilities for production in the fast-growing markets of the Middle East. Sadara will be comprised of 26 manufacturing units producing more than 3 million metric tons of ten major product families of chemical products and specialty plastics per year. The complex will reach full production in 2016, and its products will be available in markets throughout the world.
Ex-Im Bank's 2013 Annual Conference will feature prominent members of the business and government community including Vice President Joe Biden, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, former National Security Advisor General James Jones, Xerox Corporation CEO Ursula Burns, and Citibank Chairman Michael O'Neill. A full listing of speakers, panelists, and moderators is available on Ex-Im's website: www.exim.gov
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 (from Fiscal Year 2008), Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers nearly $1.6 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 nearly $35.8 billion in total authorizations in FY 2012 - an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6.1 billion directly supporting small-business export sales - also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $50 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 255,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.