PORTLAND, Maine ? The Finance Authority of Maine announced Tuesday that it has agreed to help finance the expansion of three Maine businesses, which will create or maintain 171 jobs.
According to an announcement from FAME, the organization?s board of directors last week approved the financing plans for the three companies which represent the transportation, tourism and manufacturing sectors.
Beth Bordowitz, CEO of FAME, described the financing efforts as a way to help kickstart business growth as the state begins climbing out of an economic recession that long stagnated the job market.
?We are beginning to see signs of an economic recovery taking hold in Maine and our actions
will help these businesses to position themselves to create and retain good Maine jobs,? Bordowitz said in a statement.
Benefiting from the authority?s latest actions are the Portland-based Custom Coach & Limousine, Mega Industries of Gorham and the Benton-based B&B Precise Products, Inc.
FAME directors approved a direct loan of $180,000 to Mega Industries, described in Tuesday?s announcement as a manufacturer of ?high-power, low-frequency microwave components for scientific, military and commercial applications.? The loan will allow the company to expand its Gorham plant, stabilize 46 jobs and add eight more positions.
The support for the other two Maine businesses will come in the form of loan insurance, which allows traditional lenders, such as banks, to extend a loan with less risk. In those cases, the lenders may not have been willing to lend money for a company to expand without assurances that the money will be repaid through an extra insurance claim if the business runs into trouble and cannot make its repayments.
With last week?s board vote, FAME will provide loan insurance for a number of Camden National Bank loans for Isherwood Enterprises Inc., which does business as Custom Coach & Limousine, effectively lowering the company?s debt and allowing it to maintain its staffing level at about 50 employees.
Similarly, the authority will insure three Androscoggin Bank loans to B&B Precise Products, which will use the money in part to acquire two new machines for its manufacturing facility, according to the FAME announcement. The expansion will allow B&B Precise Products to add between eight and 12 positions to its current 57-person workforce.
B&B Precise Products mills steel parts for clients such as Rolls Royce and defense contractor General Dynamics Corp., the parent company of Bath Iron Works and Armament & Technical Products in Saco.
?Our company very much appreciates FAME?s support,? said B&B President Wellman Rood in a statement. ?FAME?s actions will enable us to grow and compete in the global economy.?
The Finance Authority of Maine, founded in 1983, is the state?s business finance agency.
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