Ex-Im Bank Provides $425 Million in Export Financing for Kazakhstan to Purchase GE Locomotives
November 27, 2012
(Ex-Im Bank)
Transaction supports 5,000 American jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Export-Import Bank of
the United States (Ex-Im Bank), Kazakhstan
Temir Zholy (KTZ), Kazakhstan's state-owned
national railway company, and KTZ's subsidiary
Joint Stock Company Lokomotiv, signed a Credit
Agreement for $425 million in support of the
sale by General Electric Co., Erie, Penn., of
approximately 200 GE Evolution Series
locomotives and locomotive kits to KTZ.
The Credit Agreement was signed at a ceremony
at Ex-Im Bank headquarters by Ex-Im Bank
Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg, KTZ
Chief Financial Officer Kanat Alpysbayev and
Joint Stock Company Lokomotiv CEO Marat
Medeubayev. Also in attendance were Chargé
d'Affaires of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the
United States Dastan S. Yeleukenov and General
Electric Transportation Systems President and
CEO Lorenzo Simonelli.
"This transaction will support approximately
5,000 American jobs and help advance the goals
outlined in President Obama's National Export
Initiative," said Chairman Hochberg. "KTZ is
the largest private employer in Kazakhstan, and
I am pleased that Ex-Im financing is helping
the country meet its growing infrastructure
needs.
"I would also like to thank both KTZ and GE for
making Ex-Im Bank more customer-focused. This
transaction was initially held up because of
outdated systems and processes. That prompted
us to change our way of doing business; we
streamlined our procedures and established new
benchmarks. I'm proud to report that this past
year, 90 percent of all transactions were
processed within 30 days, and 98 percent were
processed within 100 days; it's government at
the speed of business."
The documents signed support a $425 million
direct loan approved by Ex-Im bank's board of
directors to finance KTZ's purchase of GE
locomotive kits. This is the largest single
amount of financing that Ex-Im Bank has
provided to any railroad anywhere in the world
during the past 15 years. The contract is GE's
largest equipment sale to date with KTZ since
it began selling to the railway in early 2000.
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