Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
Agency overview
Formed	January 19, 1971
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Agency executive	Elizabeth L. Littlefield, President and CEO
Website
www.opic.gov

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is the U.S. government’s development finance institution. It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and, in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy.

Because OPIC works with the private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets, catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad. OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

OPIC supports U.S. foreign policy objectives by encouraging development in regions that have experienced instability or conflict, yet offer promising growth opportunities, such as the Middle East and North Africa, sub‐Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. OPIC’s work contributes to stability and economic opportunity, which helps mitigate risk to U.S. companies investing abroad, and promotes a positive developmental effect for the host countries.

OPIC operates on a self‐sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. It generated net income of $269 million in Fiscal Year 2011, helping to reduce the federal budget deficit for the 34th consecutive year. To date, OPIC has supported nearly $200 billion of investment in more than 4,000 projects, generated $75 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 276,000 American jobs.

Products and services
Financing
Medium‐ to long‐term funding through direct loans and loan guarantees to eligible investment projects in developing countries and emerging markets. By complementing the private sector, OPIC can provide financing in countries where conventional financial institutions often are reluctant or unable to lend.

OPIC recognizes that businesses both large and small can play an important role in developing nations. In recent years, OPIC has made it a priority to work with American small businesses, which comprise, on average, 80 percent of projects supported by the agency. OPIC’s Department of Small and Medium‐sized Enterprise Finance offers qualified small businesses a streamlined approval process and direct loans from $100,000 to $10 million with terms from three to 15 years. While the eligible U.S. small business must own at least 25 percent of the overseas project, OPIC may be able to finance up to 65 percent of the total project cost. OPIC has conducted more than a dozen small business workshops around the United States since 2006, educating nearly 1,600 business owners about OPIC products and services.

Political risk insurance
OPIC’s political risk insurance enables U.S. businesses to take advantage of commercially attractive opportunities in emerging markets, mitigating risk and helping them compete in a global marketplace. OPIC helps U.S. investors protect their investments in a variety of situations, including political violence, expropriation or other government interference, and currency inconvertibility.

Investment funds
OPIC provides support for the creation of privately‐owned and managed investment funds. These funds make direct equity and equity‐related investments in new, expanding or privatizing emerging market companies. OPIC‐supported funds help emerging market economies to access long‐term growth capital, management skills, and financial expertise, all of which are key factors in expanding economic development for people in developing nations.