News | News Releases | 1999

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WASHINGTON — Telsmith Inc., a mineral-processing equipment manufacturer in Mequon, WI, will be able to export a rock gyrasphere and related spare parts valued at $400,000 to an Argentine mining company as a result of medium-term credit insurance provided by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank).

The buyer, Cantesur S.A. of Rosario, Argentina, a privately held rock quarry and mining business, will use the gyrasphere, or cone crusher, for quarrying to produce sand and gravel. The Ex-Im Bank insurance enabled Senstar Capital Corp., a Pittsburgh, PA privately held financial institution, to provide Cantesur with the credit it needed to buy the Gyrasphere. This small, but growing sand and gravel producer purchased a smaller gyrasphere from Telsmith in 1996, also with Ex-Im Bank support.

"Without financing from Ex-Im Bank, this sale would not have occurred," said Steve Miscikowski, director of finance and materials for Telsmith. "Getting our product out into the export market is very important for us."

Ex-Im Bank has financed more than $400 million in exports to Argentina since 1997. Argentina is the Bank's fourth largest Latin American market, after Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela. Ex-Im Bank Chairman James A. Harmon signed three trade-finance agreements with Argentina in June, including one with the city of Buenos Aires, the Bank’s first transaction involving a city.

"Argentina has been an important Ex-Im Bank market for nearly 50 years," Mr. Harmon said. "This transaction reaffirms our commitment to foster a strong U.S.-Argentine trade partnership."

Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance. Ex-Im Bank will support approximately $15 billion in exports in the 1999 fiscal year.