Madrid, January 25, 2024. COFIDES offers its support to GH Cranes & Components, a company that specialises in designing and manufacturing lifting machinery, in the construction of a new factory in Texas, USA, granting a joint venture loan with an equivalent value of 4.7 million dollars (up to 4.7 million euros). The joint venture loan is being financed by the Fund for Foreign Investment (FIEX), while the Basque Finance Institute has agreed to supply the same amount, bringing the total invested in this project to almost 13 million euros.
This new site will provide GH Cranes & Components with a better-equipped and more suitably located factory than its current Texas facilities. In addition, GH aims to embark on an investment project that will expand its production capacity with the goal of consolidating its position as a manufacturer.
The project will be a beneficiary of the COFIDES Impact programme through which COFIDES supports investment projects that have a positive effect on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A variable part of this funding plan is linked to sustainability, and GH will have the chance to receive bonuses if it meets certain sustainability criteria and indicators. In this case, the bonus will be paid out if the company obtains and maintains quality certification.
This is fourth time that COFIDES and GH Cranes & Components have collaborated, after previously joining forces during the company's expansion into Argentina, Mexico and Poland.
The corporate director of COFIDES’ Investments division, Miguel Ángel Ladero, stated that “it is very gratifying to help guide a company in its international growth, especially one like GH Cranes & Components that invests so heavily in technology and innovation, which enables it to be extremely competitive in a market as ruthless as the USA.”
GH Cranes & Components’ CEO, Jose Antonio Guerra,added that “this ambitious investment is proof of GH Cranes & Components’ ambitions to grow its business on a global scale and, in this case in particular, increase its presence in the USA, a country in which GH has played an increasingly important role thanks to our passion for the industry and our top-class service and customer support.”
This operation contributes greatly to the company achieving SDGs 8 (decent work and economic growth) and 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure).
ABOUT GH
GH CRANES & COMPONENTS is a family-owned group of industrial companies that was founded in 1958. Its main line of business is the manufacture of block and tackle systems, overhead cranes and crane components, although it also designs and manufactures gantry cranes, jib cranes and a whole range of elevation solutions. It operates in all major markets, with ten production plants across Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico, Brazil, the USA, Poland and Thailand, and has subsidiaries in 15 countries.
ABOUT COFIDES
COFIDES is a state-owned enterprise specialized in the management of State funds that provide medium- and long-term financing for private investments linked to different public policy purposes. COFIDES directly manages funds aimed at supporting the internationalization of Spanish firms, strengthening the solvency of companies severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, to attract foreign direct investment into Spain through co-investment deals and to contribute to the growth of the impact investment ecosystem in Spain. In addition, COFIDES supports the management of the financial cooperation portfolio of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, promoting sustainable development in emerging economies and developing countries. In the ownership structure of the Company, the Spanish State holds 53% of the equity. The remaining 47% is held by Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell and Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).
