US Exim has approved US$1.2bn in loans to finance the export of American-made telecommunications satellites to Mexico and Australia.

US Exim is guaranteeing a US$922mn loan from Morgan Chase to support the export of three satellites and related equipment to the Mexican government for the Mexsat regional mobile satellite system, which provides communications for military, civil and humanitarian needs and domestic communications.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transportation will purchase the satellites from Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in El Segundo, California. Boeing will produce two satellites and will subcontract a third satellite from US Satellite manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Approximately 400 Boeing employees will work directly on the Mexsat programme. The transaction also will support an estimated 80 jobs at Orbital Sciences Corporation, while hundreds of additional jobs will be indirectly supported at related vendors throughout the US, US Exim says in a statement.

Mexico accounted for US$8.3bn of the bank’s worldwide credit exposure at the end of the financial year 2011. In 2012 to date, US Exim has authorised approximately US$1.8bn in financing for US exports to Mexico.

US Exim is also showing its support for US exports to Australia by providing a US$281mn direct loan to Jabiru Satellite in Southbank, Australia – the bank’s first satellite transaction in the country.

The loan will be used to purchase satellite and ground equipment.

Jabiru-1 will be Australia’s first privately-owned commercial satellite and will rely upon 8.1 gigahertz of capacity to provide Ka-band and Ku-band coverage to government, corporate and industrial sectors in the high-growth regions of the Middle East and Africa.

Jabiru Satellite will contract the operation of the satellite to MEASAT Satellite Systems of Malaysia, which operates a fleet of five satellites reaching 145 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. The satellite is scheduled for operation in 2014.