FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 16, 2002

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For further information, contact:
Lawrence Spinelli (202) 336-8690
Timothy Harwood (202) 336-8744

$1 MILLION OPIC LOAN ENABLES GRAPHICS FRANCHISE TO EXPAND IN BRAZIL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) announced today that it is providing a $1 million loan to a franchisee to expand its graphics business in northeastern Brazil, enabling it to provide products such as signs, exhibit graphics, posters and banners to clients in up to eight northeastern states in the country. 

NH Servicos de Sinalizacao Ltda., a franchisee of Signs Now Brazil Corporation, will use the OPIC loan to purchase state-of-the-art printing equipment and move its store in Salvador, Bahia State, to a larger, more strategic location in the city. Bahia, with the fastest-growing economy in the country, has been targeted by the Brazilian government for a ten-year investment program. Signs Now Brazil is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Florida-based Signs Now Corporation.

The project falls under OPIC’s program of support for U.S. small businesses. Signs Now Corporation, which has licensed commercial graphics franchises since 1986, has contracts with 264 franchisees, most of them in the United States, Brazil and Canada.

OPIC’s political risk insurance and financing help U.S. businesses of all sizes invest in 140 emerging markets and developing nations worldwide. Over the agency’s 30-year history, OPIC has supported $138 billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to generate over $10 billion in host-government revenues and create nearly 668,000 host-country jobs. OPIC projects have also generated $63.6 billion in U.S. exports and create nearly 250,000 American jobs.