Word: opic
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...company that manufactures cotton and coffee in Argentina? Or a company that manufactures vans for the local jitney service in South Africa? Or a soft-drink company in Russia? For every buck you put up, the government, in the form of something called the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), puts up two bucks. Best of all, if the deal goes sour because of a crumbling economy, currency devaluation or some other unforeseen event, you won't have to pay back the government's share...
Thus far in the 1990s, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation has established 26 funds, which have invested $3.2 billion in businesses in Europe, Asia and Latin America. The U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) has established 11 other funds with 1.4 billion taxpayer dollars. President Clinton is OPIC's best friend. During his tenure, he has increased funds earmarked for OPIC ventures from less than $100 million to $3.2 billion...
...case of AID's so-called enterprise funds, the investment dollars are supplied directly by you, the taxpayer. In the case of OPIC, government-guaranteed notes are sold on the open market and the proceeds are put into a fund in which private investors have committed some of their money. A typical $150 million fund would consist of $100 million in OPIC-guaranteed notes and $50 million in private capital. Mark E. Van de Water, deputy vice president in OPIC's investment-development department, explains the process...
...investment fund? People who have the proper political ties or who are major campaign contributors or both. Like the billionaire Ziff brothers, whose fortune came largely from the 1994 sale of the family publishing business built by their father. Since 1996, Ziff Bros. Investments has overseen a $150 million OPIC-guaranteed fund, the South Asia Capital Fund, whose purpose is to make equity investments in India, Indonesia, Laos, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines...
...seeking loans from the Export-Import Bank and loan guarantees from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation for a multimillion dollar diamond deal in Angola. After the meeting, a sympathetic Lake decided to intervene: he directed an NSC staff member, with approval from legal counsel, to call Ex-Im and OPIC. The message: Templesman's venture had "merit." But TIME has obtained the text of a recent letter from Angola's ambassador in Washington that bluntly asks the U.S. to stop attempts to broker a diamond deal and, in an apparent reference to Tempelsman, criticizes similiar attempts by "private companies...