The board of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a $118 million direct loan to the government of Vietnam for the export of a Lockheed Martin Space Systems telecommunications satellite and additional goods and services, Lockheed Martin announced Oct. 2.
   The Vinasat-2 geosynchronous satellite recently completed a series of in-orbit tests following its May 15 launch. Equipped with a payload of 24 active Ku-band transponders, the satellite aims to provide telecommunications and television services to developing markets in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. The loan represents Ex-Im Bank’s first satellite transaction with the Vietnamese government and will finance $125 million in export sales. Hanoi-based state-owned enterprise Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) is acting on behalf of the government in the transaction.
   BNP Paribas will serve as the documentation agent and letter-of-credit bank. Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred Hochberg noted that the Bank’s credit exposure in Vietnam accounted for $185 million of its portfolio as of December 2011.