The Geothermal Development Facility for Latin America’s (GDF) second call has concluded this October with an announcement of grant awards. In conjunction with the awarding of successful grantees, the GDF also organized and participated in several conferences supporting energy reform, including a technical assistance forum in conjunction with the GEOLAC 2018 conference in Mexico City, where it was awarded the Best Financing Program award for the  second year in a row.

​At the 2018 GeoTHERM Exhibition and Congress, the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) recognized the Geothermal Development Facility for Latin America as the winner of this year’s annual European Geothermal Innovation Award. GDF Latin America was selected among endorsed nominations of outstanding contributors to the geothermal field, ranging in expertise from engineering companies to universities and research institutes.

​U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross appoints Alan Beard, Managing Director of Interlink Capital Strategies (Interlink), to the Trade Finance Advisory Council (TFAC) to provide him advice and counsel on trade finance issues. 

​The first call for Geothermal Development Facility (GDF) for Latin America has come to a close with an announcement of the grant awards for this unique Grant Facility established to be a catalyst to geothermal power development in Latin America. The GDF is pleased to announce 8 winners spanning across Central and South America. As a result of this initiative, surface studies in amounts up to €600,000 each will be funded in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Guatemala while Exploratory Drilling will be funded up to €5.8 million each in Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras. 

Hacettepe University Technology Transfer Center ("HTTM") and AGM Strategic Solutions, Inc. ("AGM") signed a cooperation agreement on Monday 21, December 2017. Interlink and Yenigün's Tamer Altay, HTTM's Rector, President and Board Members, as well as the Director of Technology Center, Scholars and Yenigün Chairman Mithat Yenigün participated in the occasion.
HTTM is the Technology Transfer Office of Hacettepe University - one of the leading public universities in Turkey. HTTM is one of the first three Technology Transfer Offices established in Turkey. It has strong relationships with governmental bodies as well as research and innovation funding agencies in the country.
AGM is one of the companies of Yenigün Group, specializing in ​improving dual technology transfer between Turkish companies and foreign counterparts. AGM also provides healthcare consulting, and international trade solutions.

The German government’s KfW Development Bank in conjunction with the European Union has launched a €55 million geothermal power fund for Latin America to focus on early stage development managed by Washington, DC-based, IDA Fund Management, LLC.  Known as the Geothermal Development Facility (GDF), the goal is to be a catalyst to 350 MW of installed geothermal power capacity in Latin America over the next ten years.  GDF will achieve this by providing feasibility study funding of as much as €600,000 and exploratory drilling funding for up to €5.8 million per project to qualified applicants in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.  GDF expects to close a second round of significant funding from KfW and other Development Finance Institutions later this year.

Recent updates report that Interlink’s partnership with Power Africa (USAID) is yielding encouraging results in the effort to provide access to electricity to millions of under-served people on the African continent. Thus far, through the combined work of technical and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from around the world, Power Africa has financially closed projects worth an estimated $57 billion. These developments are not only bringing power to over 44 million people on Africa, but also strengthening the U.S. economy through exports and job creation. 
Read more about it here and visit Power Africa’s website

Alan Beard participated in the TFX Americas 2017 Conference: Project, Export, Commodity & Trade Finance on February 2, 2017, which attracted 200 leading trade figures to Miami for two days of networking, learning and debate. The focus of the conference was analyzing the present macroeconomic environment, and the aforementioned four areas of finance: Project, Export, Commodity and Trade. Alan moderated the “Saving Grace - Renewables Financing” Project Finance workshop, which discussed the financing of renewable projects in Latin America and the role green bonds can play in them. Also discussed were the interests capital markets could have in Latin American renewable projects, and what banks can do to ensure profitable involvement.

Alan Beard participates in the Panel: Bridging the SME Trade Finance Gap— Challenges and Solutions: The so called “Trade Finance Gap” continues to put a brake on economic growth and job creation, particularly in the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) segment. Banks are constrained by new regulatory capital requirements and the increased KYC/AML compliance burden associated with financing SME’s. In this session, we’ll discuss the state of financial and technological innovation that’s enabling non-banks to offer transactional, event driven, and corporate development finance in what has traditionally been a bank-dominated field. Each of the panelists brings a different perspective and insight into developments that promise to have a wideranging, long term impact. 

Yenigun was appointed by the Ministry of Public Procurements (MINMAP) of Cameroon in cooperation with AFLLC/AECOM consortium to construct the Douala-Japoma stadium, which will host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. The ground was broken and construction began after project financing was obtained from BGFI Bank and the Turkish ExIm Bank. Interlink Capital Strategies and its affiliate Pacific TriStar Equipment, an Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) backed entity based in West Africa, coordinated with Yenigun in obtaining this $232 million USD contract.

​Stevensville, MD – 17 August 2016 International Green Structures (“IGS”) has fulfilled the first of three orders from the Viva Group (“Viva”) located in Mumbai, India. In March of this year IGS, VIVA and Capital Financial Strategies LLC dba Interlink Capital Strategies (“Interlink”) signed an MOU to initiate a Partnership, which allows significant market penetration of IGS products into India. This initial purchase provides Viva the materials to complete necessary research and development regarding the use of the sustainable building product in affordable housing and commercial buildings in India.

​The Partnership will allow Viva, a privately held land developer to extend its business ventures in the affordable housing market. Viva is currently involved in retail and commercial construction of retail and commercial businesses, Viva also has businesses in Education, Film and Cab industries. Viva plans to purchase Compressed Agricultural Fiber (CAF) Panels from IGS’s Worldwide Manufacturing Facility in Whitewright, TX to begin the R&D process and gain approval of the product in country. They will work with IGS to further explore access to financing in the US through US EXIM Bank and OPIC with the assistance of Interlink expertise with plans to open an IGS Manufacturing Facility in India. 

​Interlink advisors Richard Beard and Lew Cramer have both been selected as Utah Business' 2016 CEO of the Year honorees.

ExWorks Capital funds a record number of transactions. Click on file below for a sample of the deals completed in 2015.

The Commercial Finance Association (CFA) held its annual conference in Austin, TX on November 11-13. Alan Beard was asked to participate on a panel of experts to discuss the latest thinking in cross-border finance. “Participants heard how innovative disruption in data analytics is spawning new offerings in cross-border commerce from Reverse Factoring to Distribution Finance. Participants also learned how lenders are creating new structures to support exporters while Congress figures out the future of EXIM Bank. From financing international distribution of goods to distributing risk and assets, the panel of experts shared their knowledge and insights so participants could keep abreast of which trends will drive their business …. And which might threaten it.”. ​

Power Africa is a unique, private sector-driven effort that brings together over 90 private sector companies, many U.S. Government agencies, global donor agencies (e.g. the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank), and African governments that are committed to accelerating and stimulating further power sector investment. Power Africa aims to add more than 30,000 megawatts of cleaner, more efficient electricity generation capacity, as well as increase electricity access by adding 60 million new home and business connections throughout all of sub-Saharan Africa. ​

​Interlink's Brady Edholm presents at a Vietnam- US Energy Forum. Giant US companies, such as Exxon Mobil, Murphy Oil, General Electric, and Westinghouse, are active in doing business in Vietnam, while US agencies, including the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), have aided Vietnam in carrying out several energy projects.

Washington D.C. -October 21,2015, With the temporary expiration of the Ex-Im Bank from July 1, 2015 until December 4, 2015, many local businesses struggled to export their products as they had done for many years with the support of the Ex-Im Bank. The Ex-Im Bank has a renewed charter allowing ExWorks Capital to continue provide US companies with Ex-Im Bank backed financing options to export their products. ​