EX-IM Bank Renews Aquatech Financing
The $37-million renewal of an Export-Import Bank of the United States loan facility for a green technology company will support jobs at the 200-plus-employee Canonsburg, Pa., 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 on Jan. 29 approved the bank's guarantee of a revolving working capital loan from PNC Bank, Pittsburgh, Pa., to support Aquatech International Corporation's export of 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."
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/products/policies/environment. .