Export Development Guarantee

Our Export Development Guarantee (EDG) helps companies who export from, or plan to export from the UK, access high value loan facilities for general working capital or capital expenditure purposes. We can provide support for finance provided by a commercial lender, which does not need to be linked to a specific export contract.

We can provide partial guarantees covering up to 80% of the risk to lenders for a maximum repayment period of up to 5 years, or up to 10 years if the loan is to develop clean growth exports such as renewable energy. We can consider transactions from a minimum of £25 million. The average value of EDG transactions is expected to be between £100 million and £500 million.

The guarantees we can provide for each transaction will usually support lending in GBP, but lending in US dollars, Euros or Japanese Yen may also be considered.

Benefits

EDG provides additional capacity to support the private market on high value transactions.

The benefits of our EDG for UK exporters include:

• the flexibility to bid for multiple contracts with a secure source of working capital
• extra financing capability for scaling up existing export activities
• support for investment activities to increase future export activities
• repayment terms up to 5 years, or up to 10 years where the funds are used solely to support clean growth activities

Eligibility criteria

All transactions supported by UKEF must satisfy our:

• anti-bribery and corruption policy
• environmental, social and human rights due diligence processes

There are two sets of criteria which can be applied, depending on the amount of the applicant’s exporting activity.

UK-based exporters

Applicants must pass an Exporter Test which is the requirement that either:

• UK export sales represent at least 20% of the applicant’s UK annual sales turnover in the last financial year

or:

• UK export sales represent at least 20% of the applicant’s UK annual sales turnover on average over the last three financial years

In addition, the exporter must be carrying on business in the UK, either by manufacturing goods in the UK, delivering services from the UK or providing intangibles from the UK. The exporter must have both premises and employees in the UK.

Growing exporters and investors

Companies that do not pass the Exporter Test (including those operating overseas who plan to develop exports from the UK) can apply if they can demonstrate how the EDG will significantly develop exports from the UK. For new exporters, this would typically be 10% of turnover coming from UK export sales within 5 years.

Applicants will be required to submit a credible business plan to demonstrate how UKEF support would lead to the exporting of goods, services, or intangibles, or show how the financing is directly related to signed export contracts.

Applicants currently carrying on business overseas will have to commit to set up, operate from, and employ staff in the UK which should be demonstrated in the business plan.

Guidance for companies transitioning out of fossil fuel exports

How to apply

Application process

All applicants, regardless of their sector, must complete a Revenue Threshold Test which will determine whether we can provide support, as well as an application form. Applicants who do not yet export from the UK must also submit a business plan demonstrating how they intend to grow their exports.

• Export Development Guarantee application form (PDF, 301282 KB, 2527 pages)
• Guidance on the Revenue Threshold Test

More information

• Read our guide for applicants on business processes and factors, to find out how we make decisions on applications
• Read our position on Financial Crime Compliance

Clean growth exports are defined as goods, services or intangibles relating to:

• renewable energy
• energy efficiency
• pollution prevention and control
• environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use
• terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity conservation
• clean transportation; sustainable water and wastewater management
• climate change adaptation
• eco-efficient and/or circular economy adapted products, production technologies and processes
• green buildings as defined in the Green Bond Principles