Export Finance Australia

CC Pines is a family-owned construction business that has been operating for nearly 50 years, primarily serving Government entities in Australia, including the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade. See how Export Finance Australia helped us.

The business specialises in delivering complex projects in remote locations and has developed a unique model for constructing modular components in Australia and shipping them worldwide. 

After identifying a growth opportunity to support the US Department of Defence in delivering its plans to invest $40 billion in infrastructure across the Indo-Pacific, CC Pines began bidding on tenders but needed additional financial support to secure the opportunities. 

“We realised a lot of the American construction firms didn’t have experience in this part of the world,” explained Ben Pines, Executive Chairman at CC Pines. 

“We saw an opportunity for CC Pines to be a viable construction provider, both in Australia and right through the Indo-Pacific region, and then we started bidding on some of the work.” 

However, to win US defence contracts, businesses are required to provide bonds to tender on a contract and secure a contract if their bid is successful, Mike Foster, Managing Director at CC Pines highlighted.

“Looking at the procurement processes for the US Department of Defense, we learned about the requirement for surety bonds and that you have to have them in place to secure these contracts – and that became the hurdle.”

These bonds can be as high as 200% of the total value of the work being tendered for and are put in place by the US Department of Defense to guarantee the work will be completed. These bonds can only be issued by providers accredited by the US government. In Australia, accredited providers are limited and the handful of financiers that can provide surety bonds typically only support larger companies.