PARIS — A top official with the U.S. Export-Import Bank says the export credit agency is considering proposals for greater than $5 billion in satellite industry financing.
Speaking on the World Satellite Business Week conference, Judith Pryor, first vp and vice chair of the board of directors of Ex-Im, said the bank was inquisitive about helping the industry finance recent projects while remaining agnostic about specific architectures or technologies.
She said the bank was reviewing $1.3 billion in financing proposals “prone to come to fruition” throughout the 12 months. An extra $4 billion in deals are “a bit of less further along,” she added.
She didn’t discover any specific proposals that the bank was reviewing, aside from there have been “greater than a handful” into consideration. In June, Declan Ganley, chief executive of Rivada Space Networks, said his company was searching for Ex-Im financing for its satellite constellation, which incorporates a $2.4 billion contract with satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital and several other hundred million dollars more in launches from SpaceX.
Pryor said that Ex-Im was considering a variety of proposals. “What we see at Ex-Im are less GEO and more LEO megaconstellations. Actually that’s the best way the industry is heading,” she said. The bank has also seen proposals for Earth remark and other “recent space” systems, she added.
What Ex-Im has financed recently, though, has been in GEO. In 2021, Ex-Im financed the SpaceX launch of a Hispasat communications satellite, valued at $80.7 million. In late 2022, the bank approved $407 million in financing for the launch by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance of two ViaSat-3 satellites, a project done through Viasat’s United Kingdom subsidiary.
One among those satellites, ViaSat-3 Americas, suffered an issue with its antenna after launch that will jeopardize its ability to offer broadband services. Pryor said she didn’t have any additional details concerning the problem beyond what Viasat has reported but that Ex-Im was in discussions with the corporate concerning the status of the spacecraft.
She emphasized the bank wouldn’t play favorites with specific technologies or firms. “As a U.S. government agency we’d like to stay agnostic,” she said. “If there’s an interested buyer of a U.S. export, whether it’s a SpaceX launch or ULA, we will finance those launches.”
She said the bank had loads of capability to contemplate additional deals: it has a lending cap of $135 billion but only $34 billion in current exposure. “We don’t write checks to everybody, but when it’s a viable business project, let’s have a look,” she said.
That included recent markets, like orbital debris removal. “There will probably be a time when we will start to contemplate financing on-orbit elements,” she said. “If you’ve gotten a viable business model and a plan, we’ll take a have a look at it.”