Santana Textiles receives $10M loan to build plant in Edinburg

Santana Textiles receives $10M loan to build plant in Edinburg
Published: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 3:48 PM CST
The Edinburg Review
Full Article

AUSTIN -- Santana Textiles has been awarded a $10 million, 15-year loan for its upcoming Edinburg facility, State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, announced on Monday.

The award comes from the Texas Product Development Fund, a Texas fund administered by the governor through the Texas Economic Development Bank, and funded by bonds issued and backed by the state.

Loans made available through the Texas Product Development Fund may be used for working capital, machinery, equipment, and fixtures. Awards range in size from $500,000 to $10 million. Hinojosa praised the award as a continued investment in South Texas' economic generating capacity.

"In the past year, South Texas has seen sizeable investments in our transportation infrastructure, health care service delivery systems, and institutions of higher education,” Hinojosa said in a statement. “This latest award to Santana maintains our momentum. Edinburg and the entire Rio Grande Valley stand to benefit from the jobs and service contracts Santana will bring to the region. The Texas Product Development Fund chose well in awarding a loan of this size to our fast growing county."

In July 2008, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced plans to invest $1.65 million through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) to assist Santana in building the denim manufacturing plant in Edinburg. But a significant size increase of the plant, by more than 200,000 square feet, coupled with an economic recession in 2008 left city officials and Santana representatives scrambling to finance the project in four phases.

The project had been delayed for nearly a year and half before high level discussions with Perry in Austin in December finalized the project for construction. Meetings with the Governor focused on production details, global economics, market share, labor costs, transportation costs, and economic stability, according to attendees present at the meeting. Among those in the series of meetings were Santana representatives, Edinburg Mayor Richard Garcia, Texas Economic Development Bank CFO Michael Chrobak, Michael Bryant, an assistant general counsel in the Governor’s Office, and Jerry Haddican, from state Sen. Hinojosa’s Austin office.

Santana, a denim fabric manufacturer with operations in Brazil and Argentina is expected to create 800 jobs and bring $80 million in new investment. Construction of their proposed 500,000 square foot complex is slated to begin this spring, and will be completed...

Full Article