On Thursday, the board of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) authorized a $500 million direct-loan facility to provide the funds to assist Textron in financing exports from subsidiaries Cessna Aircraft and Bell Helicopter. The available capital will enable Textron to continue to provide financing to international customers that take delivery of new Cessna and Bell aircraft by December next year. The repayment term of the Ex-Im Bank facility is 10 years. Ex-Im Bank funding is needed because Textron Financial (TFC) has been unable to finance with funds raised in the capital markets as it has in the past. According to Ex-Im Bank, the facility will enable TFC to continue to finance these exports with competitive repayment terms and interest rates. TFC will be the ultimate source of repayment for the Ex-Im Bank facility and will retain the credit risk of the international buyers. In FY2008, Ex-Im Bank authorized a total of $14.4 billion in financing to support an estimated $19.6 billion of U.S. exports worldwide.