UPS Arranges $23M Loan for Airport Baggage Handling Systems

UPS Capital, the financial services arm of package delivery firm UPS, has announced that its subsidiary UPS Capital Business Credit has arranged a $23 million loan for the installation of a baggage handling system with high-tech equipment from two U.S. companies by Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte(OMA), which operates and manages 13 airports in Mexico and the Hotel of Mexico City International Airport’s Terminal 2.

The UPS Capital Business Credit loan is backed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States’ Transportation Security Exports Program (T-SEP). T-SEP is designed to incentivize the use of U.S.-made products by structuring extended terms for financing.

OMA is using the loan proceeds to purchase equipment manufactured by two U.S. companies, Reveal Imaging Technologies and L-3 Security & Detection Systems, and will install the equipment at seven Mexican airports, including Monterrey, Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, Chihuahua and Mazatlán. The systems are expected to be installed in 2011. For more than 10 years, UPS Capital Business Credit has maintained a representative office in Mexico, which helped to arrange this loan.

In addition to enabling OMA to upgrade equipment at the airports it operates, the loan will also help spur sales for U.S. exporters.

UPS Capital delivers financial products and services that are designed to improve the flow of funds and minimize risks in global trade.

OMA operates 13 international airports in nine states of central and northern Mexico. OMA’s airports serve Monterrey, Mexico’s third largest metropolitan area, the tourist destinations of Acapulco, Mazatlán, and Zihuatanejo, and nine other regional centers and border cities. OMA also operates a hotel inside Terminal 2 of the Mexico City airport.