For the machinery and equipment exporter that has had trouble finding a bank to finance sales to emerging markets, the chances of arranging these loans have grown a lot brighter.

At least five banks are actively pursuing the business with smaller and midsize exporters on a nationwide basis. The exporters do not have to be existing clients. And other banks, including a few of the super regional institutions, are also showing more willingness to consider export transactions with companies that are not already their customers.

Take the case of Tensor Group, Woodridge, Ill., a manufacturer of offset web printing presses that relies on exports for 60 percent of its business. In Tensor's experience, the buyer has often arranged the finance, and then had its bank issue a letter of credit to cover payment. But in a recent Turkish deal, the customer referred the Illinois company to Webster Bank, Hartford, Conn.

Webster, one of the banks now expanding rapidly in medium-term export transactions, not only looks for U.S. exporters to work with, but also has created an overseas network of marketing representatives who look for companies interested in buying U.S. machinery and equipment.

In all of its medium-term lending, where repayment terms typically run five years, the bank relies on the U.S. Export-Import Bank's insurance and guarantee programs to cover most of the risk.

Or take the case of Agri-Systems International, Miami, a small exporter and consolidator specializing in animal feed plants. Agri-Systems, which focuses on Latin American markets, sells the plant design and assembles the storage, grinding, and mixing equipment from various manufacturers on behalf of its customers.

"As the projects we handle get larger, financing has become a part of our marketing strategy," said Gerald Senra, general manager. In the past, the company often sold only the equipment, so the transaction was small, with a $50,000 price tag in some cases.

"Banks weren't usually interested in those small transactions, but now with deals that often run over $1 million, banks are more interested, and we have begun to use financing as a sales tool," he said.

In a recent Costa Rican project, the customer, a large integrated poultry producer, wanted financing, and urged Agri-Systems to contact RZB Finance in New York. The New York company is a subsidiary of RZB Bank, one of Austria's two main internationally active lenders. The finance unit was launched in 1998 to focus mostly on short-term trade finance, and in 1999 it created a new medium-term business based on Ex-Im Bank programs.

The five lenders now pursuing medium-term export equipment deals are a varied lot, but they have some common characteristics. For one thing, they have all spent a lot of time working with Ex-Im Bank programs, and have mastered the details. For another, they have all made export banking a high priority or a major activity.

And they all have international networks that can be used both to find U.S. equipment buyers and qualify the credit risks of these buyers.

Webster Bank is a savings institution with $10 billion in assets that performs like a commercial bank. It has recently made trade banking a priority, in both working capital lending and medium-term transactions. Like other banks, it provides export working capital only to firms that are nearby (in New England), but it will finance equipment suppliers nationwide in sales to Latin America and Turkey.

"We are calling on companies across the United States and working through industry associations to find exporter customers, as well as generating transactions through our overseas network," said Paul Pirrotta, senior vice president for international banking. Webster has done several deals with Ex-Im Bank as large as $8 million in the past year.

First International Bank, also in Hartford, does more medium-term export deals with Ex-Im Bank than any other lender. In fiscal 1999, it accounted for 49 medium-term transactions under the U.S. agency's guarantee program and 16 under its insurance facility.

The bank has outgrown its local roots to become a national wholesale lender with 10 offices in the Northeast and Midwest. It has built an overseas marketing network in Latin America, Turkey, Asia and Africa to generate business. Government guaranteed lending is one of its top priorities, and export business is becoming a large part of its overall operations.

RZB Finance in New York has been building the Ex-Im Bank-related, medium-term business for more than a year now. "So far, we have focused on transactions with Latin American buyers, but we will be developing business in Central and East Europe, where our parent bank has a well-established network," said Vincent Herman, senior vice president. RZB has commercial banking and investment banking units in most countries of the region.

In Baltimore, Allfirst Bank, a regional lender with a long history of trade lending and an active correspondent banking network in Latin America, has begun to move farther afield from its mid-Atlantic home base to support equipment sales by companies nationwide. It uses Ex-Im Bank insurance as well as its guarantee program.

Allfirst's parent, Allied Irish Bank in Dublin, has its own international network, including a Singapore branch, that is tapped to put together some of the Baltimore lender's transactions.

In Atlanta, AmTrade International Bank specializes almost entirely in trade banking, particularly for business with Latin America. Its units in Atlanta and Miami have focused primarily on short-term financing until recently, but medium-term export deals have become a top priority.

Indicative of its growing interest, AmTrade hired Michael Filchock, an Ex-Im Bank executive, last year to manage the medium-term deals at the Atlanta unit. The bank's customers have been primarily in the Southeast region, but it's now moving beyond that marketplace.

Meanwhile, other, larger banks are expressing some interest in doing business with equipment exporters that are not existing clients. At U.S. Bank, for example, with a Minneapolis headquarters and a sizable presence in Washington state and Oregon, Chris Harris, vice president at the Seattle unit, said the bank would look at some of this business. Harris just joined from Ex-Im Bank.

And in San Francisco, at Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank, Ken Petrilla, senior vice president for structured lending, said his group would look at deals from non-customers if they meet its credit standards, and also offer potential to become customers. n