CIT Group

For the large bank holding corporation that is not related to this company see Citigroup

CIT Group Incorporated

File:Logo-cit.gif
Company type	Public NYSE: CIT
Industry	Finance company
Founded	1908
Founder	Henry Ittleson
Headquarters	New York City , United States of America
Key people	Jeffrey M. Peek (Chairman, CEO)
Revenue	$8.6 billion (2007)
Operating income	($272 million) (loss) (2007)
Net income	($81 million) (loss) (2007)
Total assets	$90.2 billion (2007)
Total equity	$7.0 billion (2007)
Website	cit.com

CIT Group Inc. NYSE: CIT (an abbreviation of an early corporate name of Commercial Investment Trust) is a leading global commercial and consumer finance company, founded in 1908. CIT has more than $74 billion in managed assets. CIT is a Fortune 500 company and is a part of the S&P 500 Index, and is a leading participant in vendor financing, factoring, equipment and transportation financing, Small Business Administration loans, and asset-based lending, and does business with more than 80% of the Fortune 1000. The company's global headquarters are in New York City, and the company has more than 7,300 employees in locations throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

Structure

CIT's Commercial Finance business offers secured lending, leasing and factoring products including direct loans and leases, operating leases, leveraged and single investor leases, secured revolving lines of credit and term loans, credit protection, accounts receivable collection, import and export financing, debtor-in-possession and turnaround financing, and acquisition and expansion financing. Commercial Finance also offers investment banking advisory services.

CIT's Specialty Finance business consists of home lending, student loans, vendor financing, small business loans, small/mid ticket product leasing and global insurance services.

History

On February 11, 1908 Henry Ittleson founded the Commercial Credit and Investment Company in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 1915 it moved to New York City and renamed itself Commercial Investment Trust and went by the initials of C.I.T. It remains in New York City today. By that time, the company provided financing for wholesale suppliers and producers of consumer goods. The company added automobile financing to its product line in 1916, through an agreement with Studebaker, the first of its kind in the auto industry. During World War I, CIT financed the manufacture of 150 electronic U-Boats chasers. It also added consumer financing of radios through an agreement with Thomas Edison, Inc. During the Roaring 20s following the war, consumer spending rose dramatically and CIT prospered in its consumer appliance, furniture, and automobile financing groups. In 1924, CIT incorporated in Delaware and listed itself on the New York Stock Exchange. CIT entered the field of factoring in 1928 and expanded operations into Europe in 1929.

With World War II looming, CIT closed its German operations in 1934. Arthur O. Dietz succeeded Ittleson as president of the company in 1939. During the war, CIT offered its 2000 employees a month's bonus, life insurance, and a guaranteed job on return if they served in the armed forces. From 1947 to 1950, the company's net income rose from $7.3 million to $30.8 million. Ittleson died at age 77 on October 27, 1948.

The company moved into a new building at 650 Madison Avenue, NY in 1957. In 1960, Walter Lundell succeeded Dietz as president of the company. Five years later, in 1959, the company passed $100 billion in financing volume since its founding. The Vietnam War racial turmoil of the 1960s resulted in CIT making changes to its business. in 1969, CIT entered the personal and home equity loan and leasing business and left auto financing. In 1979, restrictive banking rules forced CIT to sell its bank, National Bank of North America. CIT was acquired by RCA Corporation in 1980. RCA promptly sold CIT's four manufacturing businesses: Picker, Gibson, All-Steel, and RACO. The Madison Avenue building was sold in 1982 as the company moved to a newly-constructued headquarters facility in Livingston, NJ in 1983. The address of the new headquarters was 650 CIT Drive, after the old 650 Madison Avenue address.

In 1984, CIT was sold to Manufacturers Hanover Trust.

In 1989, Manufacturer's Hanover Trust sold sixty percent of CIT to Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank of Japan. As Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank ran into troubles within its core operations, it sold off non-core assets, including CIT, which in 1997 was carved out as a separate company and re-listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1999, CIT acquired Toronto-based Newcourt Credit Group Inc. for ~$4 billion to create one of the largest publicly-owned leasing companies. CIT over-paid for Newcourt, and merger integration troubles forced CIT to draw upon emergency credit facilities with several banks to avoid bankruptcy. As other funding sources dried up, CIT was forced to sell itself to Tyco International Ltd. in June 2001. CIT became the principal operating subsidiary of Tyco's Tyco Capital business. CIT's Livingston address was changed to 1 Tyco Drive.

Tyco ran into its own operating troubles and began to sell non-core assets, including CIT. On July 8, 2002 Tyco completed its divestment of its Tyco Capital business through an IPO, with the sale of 100% of the common shares in CIT Group Inc. Now a standalone public company, CIT changed its Livingston address to 1 CIT Drive from 1 Tyco Drive.

For the first time since 1983, CIT also returned its headquarters to New York City, opening a brand-new headquarters across from the New York Public Library.

Board of Directors

Members of CIT's Board of Directors are:

• Jeffrey M. Peek - Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of CIT.
• Gary C. Butler - since February 2004
• William M. Freeman - since July 2003
• Susan Lyne - since October 2006
• James McDonald - since 2001
• Marianne Miller Parrs - since January 2003
• Timothy M. Ring - since January 2005
• John Ryan - since July 2003
• Seymour G. Sternberg - since December 2005
• Peter J. Tobin - since July 2002
• Lois M. Van Deusen - since January 2003