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Thursday, February 23, 2006

OPIC Support for U.S. Small Businesses Up 43 Percent in FY2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Financing support for U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) increased 43 percent – $103 million – from fiscal year 2004 to FY2005, an indication of both improved OPIC outreach to the sector and growing SME interest in investing overseas, OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. announced today.

OPIC committed $343.2 million in financing to 52 projects in FY2005, compared to $240.2 million for 49 projects in FY2004. OPIC support in FY2005 comprised $260 million for 21 projects from its Department of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Financing (SMEF) and $83.2 million for 31 projects from OPIC’s Small Business Center (SBC). In FY2004, OPIC’s SMEF department committed $172.5 million in financing to 20 projects, its SBC $67.7 million to 29 projects.

As in the previous year, OPIC financing in FY2005 supported U.S. small business projects in Africa, Asia, Latin American and Eastern Europe, and in a range of sectors, from tourism and energy to agriculture and financial services.

“OPIC’s ongoing effort to simplify and expand its support for U.S. small businesses yielded dramatic results in FY2005, by any measure the agency’s best year yet in terms of SME project production,” Mosbacher said. “With the establishment in the coming year of OPIC’s Enterprise Development Network – a strategic alliance among financial institutions, brokers and law firms designed to facilitate efficient delivery of OPIC funding to SME projects – we expect OPIC’s volume of SME support to grow even more.”

“This significant increase also demonstrates growing recognition by American small businesses that lucrative investment opportunities await them in emerging markets,” Mosbacher added. “We have seen time and again in OPIC projects small businesses’ ability to occupy vital economic niches in developing countries, in the process supporting development of their physical and commercial infrastructure. We are excited by the prospect of extending our support to greater numbers of American SMEs.”

OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution. It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy. Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated $74 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 275,000 American jobs.