Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
My name is Stan Logue, and I am Vice President of Product Finance for Thrush Aircraft. We are a builder of crop dusters, uh, located in south Georgia in a little town called Albany. And the company has been around for many years, uh, since the mid 60s. In 2010 we delivered 22 planes. In 2011 we delivered 36. We are on target to deliver 48 to 50 this year. When you have 60 to 70% of your sales international, then Ex-Im can play an important part of that. And then it's becoming an increasingly important tool as we move forward. Our customers--some have private financing, some are paying cash, and others are looking for assistance. When they look for assistance, they certainly ask us. And that is where Ex-Im has come in and been important to us. As I have said, our production has been increasing and, and so have the number of jobs that we're able to provide. When I have to the company in 2011, I believe I was the 90th employee. We are now 150 employees and we are growing. Uh, as the company grew and as the exports grew, we began using Ex-Im. Ex-Im--our first transaction was a plane that we sold to Kenya. It was actually a buyer credit so that our customer worked with a banking institution here in the U.S., uh, to obtain financing. And there was a guarantee on that loan. We have transitioned over time as we have sold more planes, uh, be it to Argentina, Brazil. Those have transitioned where we are using the supplier credit. And we are providing financing for the planes and insuring those transactions through Ex-Im. Not all of our customers, uh, enjoy having private financing available to them. It's become increasingly important for Thrush to be able to provide financing. With Thrush providing the financing, Ex-Im plays an integral part because it's only because of Ex-Im's insurance products that we can provide financing. We assured of liquidity for the company and continued growth by having that insurance product.