CIT Group files for bankruptcy protection
Experts project that CIT Group’s prepackaged bankruptcy filing may come at a substantial cost to its bondholders and core customers – and to Uncle Sugar and all his taxpayers. CIT has been a prime lender to small and medium-sized businesses scattered across America. The bankruptcy will wipe out the US Government’s $2.3 billion in payments in to the company as part of the 2008 TARP bailout. The filing marks the end point of months of bargaining among CIT, its creditors and the federal government over the company’s fate. With $71 billion in assets and nearly $65 billion in liabilities, CIT’s bankruptcy ranks among the largest in corporate history, though it is smaller than those of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual. For more: New York Times, Reuters, New York Times
