News

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The $37 million renewal of an Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) loan facility for a green technology company will support jobs at the 200-plus-employee Canonsburg, Penn. firm and enable it to complete existing export contracts in Oman and Italy and pursue new business around the world.

Ex-Im Bank's board of directors today approved the Bank's guarantee of a revolving working capital loan from PNC Bank, Pittsburgh, Penn., to support Aquatech International Corporation's export of cutting-edge water purification solutions, involving zero liquid discharge treatment, water reuse and desalination.

This financing will help sustain and potentially grow U.S. jobs at Aquatech and its extended supply network at this critical economic time, said Aquatech President and CEO Venkee Sharma.Aquatech's near-20-year relationship with Ex-Im Bank clearly demonstrates the Bank's commitment to support small and mid-size businesses like ours, to preserve and grow U.S. employment, and to facilitate U.S. environmental technology exports.

In today's tight credit market, Ex-Im Bank is able to step in and assist small and medium-sized businesses like Aquatech in financing important export sales that otherwise might have been lost, said Ex-Im Bank First Vice President and Vice Chair Linda Conlin.In this way, we are able to help Aquatech retain valuable jobs in Canonsburg and introduce innovative environmentally beneficial technology in promising global markets.

The new loan facility will consolidate two earlier Ex-Im Bank facilities covering ongoing Aquatech business, including sales to Italy's largest power company and a major oil field project in Oman, and also will support new Aquatech projects around the world, including the Western Hemisphere and the Middle East.

Ex-Im Bank's Office of Renewable Energy & Environmental Exports works with companies across a wide range of environmental sectors, including renewable energy, wastewater treatment, air pollution technologies and waste management services. The Bank offers enhanced financing, including special extended repayment terms, for certain categories of U.S. goods and services including environmentally beneficial exports.

The Bank's environmental exports program has grown from five transactions in 1994 to 87 transactions in 2008, with a total current portfolio in excess of nearly $3 billion.In fiscal year 2008, the Bank authorized $226.9 million in financing to support an estimated $434.2 million of U.S. environmentally beneficial goods and services. Companies interested in learning more about the program should visit www.exim.gov.The Bank's basic web address is www.exim.gov.

Ex-Im Bank is the official export-credit agency of the United States. The independent, self-sustaining federal agency, now in its 75th year, helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by financing the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export-credit insurance and direct loans.

In fiscal year 2008 Ex-Im Bank authorized $3.2 billion - more than 23 percent of total authorizations - in direct support of U.S. small businesses as primary exporters. The Bank approved 2,328 transactions that were made available for the direct benefit of small-business exporters. These transactions represented 86 percent of the total number of authorizations approved.