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Press Release

Thursday, April 27, 2006

OPIC Board Approves $150 Million for Citigroup Lending Facility for Eastern Europe & NIS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) today approved $150 million in financing to be utilized by Citigroup for business in Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (NIS).

The agreement supplements a 2002 OPIC-Citigroup facility for Russia and Central Asia, to which OPIC also provided $150 million. That facility has supported eight investments in Russia and Kazakhstan, in sectors ranging from food services to telecommunications.

Similar to the original portfolio, the new financing will target investments in the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. In addition, eastern European investments will be included, in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro.

Citigroup and OPIC will share the risk for individual loans originated under the facility, each of which will be cleared by OPIC for protection of environmental, human and workers’ rights and consistent with Citigroup's own environmental and social risk management policies.

“OPIC’s initial framework agreement with Citigroup exceeded our expectations, enabling Citigroup to expand the volume and extend the tenor of financings under the facility in Russia and Central Asia, and in the process generating more than 1500 new jobs in those countries,” said OPIC President and CEO Robert Mosbacher, Jr. “We expect today’s agreement to generate similarly positive effects for businesses in eastern Europe, by leveraging both private capital and banking skills in the region.”


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.