CIT Northbridge Provides Financing for Baker & Taylor Acquisition

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that CIT Northbridge Credit, as advised by CIT Asset Management LLC, served as sole lead arranger on a senior secured credit facility to support the acquisition of Baker & Taylor LLC, a premier provider of books, digital content and technology solutions to public and academic libraries.

Baker & Taylor, which is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., was acquired from Follett Corp. by a private investment group led by Amandeep Kochar, who previously served as Baker & Taylor's general manager and executive vice president.

"As the U.S. economy continues to recover from the pandemic, we see attractive potential to grow our business with public and academic libraries needing content and services to support their readers and researchers," said Kochar, who is now serving as Baker & Taylor's CEO and president. "We appreciated the expertise and agility of the CIT Northbridge team in quickly assembling this acquisition financing package."

"With a 190-year history of success and deep industry relationships, Baker & Taylor is well positioned to prosper as students, scholars and the general public return to their favorite libraries in search of printed and digital content and other information services," said Neal Legan, who leads CIT Northbridge. "We were pleased to work closely with the company's leadership to arrange financing to complete this transaction and build a strong and supportive relationship."

CIT Northbridge Credit is a trusted financial partner supporting middle-market companies with a broad range of flexible asset-based debt solutions. A joint venture advised by CIT Asset Management, it provides revolving and term loan commitments from $15 million to $150 million to companies across various industries and business cycles, and serves primarily as sole lender, agent, club participant or co-lender.

About CIT
CIT is a leading national bank focused on empowering businesses and personal savers with the financial agility to navigate their goals. CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is a financial holding company with over a century of experience and operates a principal bank subsidiary, CIT Bank, N.A. (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender). The company's commercial banking segment includes commercial financing, community association banking, middle market banking, equipment and vendor financing, factoring, railcar financing, treasury and payments services, and capital markets and asset management. CIT's consumer banking segment includes a national direct bank and regional branch network. Discover more at cit.com/about.

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John M. Moran
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SOURCE CIT Group Inc.