NEW YORK — Brushing aside billionaire investor Carl Icahn’s 11th-hour effort to derail the process, CIT Group said Wednesday it raised an extra $4.5 billion as it presses ahead with its restructuring plan. The embattled lender to around 1 million small and midsize businesses said it would add the $4.5 billion to a $3 billion loan put in place by a group of the firm’s largest bondholders in July.
CIT’s announcement comes less than 24 hours after Icahn, CIT’s largest bondholder, gave the company less than an hour to respond to his offer to provide $4.5 billion in loan financing while threatening to sue the company if it went with the rival bondholder loan.
Icahn asserted that his loan would have saved CIT $112.5 million in fees. Holders of some $31 billion in bonds have until 11:59 p.m. EDT today to exchange their debt for a mix of new bonds that mature later and preferred stock in a reorganized CIT. The company hopes to cut its debt by at least $5.7 billion. Dow Jones Newswires
Carl Icahn
