Spanish infrastructure firm FCC has signed a US$450mn guarantee facility with BBVA for the issuance of its contractual bondings.

BBVA explains that the unfunded facility, partly covered by Spain’s export credit agency Cesce, will help FCC gain access to more tenders on the export market. “The line can only be used for the issuance of guarantees in favour of overseas counterparts. In this specific case, part of the exporter risk is covered by Cesce, which allows us to provide a larger guarantee line,” David Albagli, BBVA head of structured trade finance Europe, tells GTR.

He adds that this type of ECA support, which covers the exporter risk instead of the overseas buyer’s risk, has become more prominent in the past year due to banking restrictions.

The facility allows for other banks to be invited if the transaction or parties require it.

Albagli explains: “The mechanism agreed allows for third banks to be invited in accordance with the needs from both the parties involved (namely BBVA, FCC and Cesce) and/or the underlying transaction. Thanks to the sound knowledge of the sector, BBVA has been in a position to come up with a mechanism or structure which is fully in line with the market practices and acceptable to most of the key banking players.”

According to BBVA, this facility has been tailor-made to meet FCC’s needs, and offer high flexibility in terms of destination, currency and tenor.