CIT sells Canadian equipment finance business

Commercial lending and leasing services specialist CIT has sold its Canadian equipment finance and corporate finance businesses (CIT Canada), with assets of approximately $700 million, to Laurentian Bank of Canada, in a move to designed to slim down its focus.

As part of the sale, CIT will transfer approximately 135 employees of CIT Canada to the Laurentian Bank team.

“We are pleased to have successfully completed this transaction,” said Ellen Alemany, chairwoman and chief executive officer, CIT Group (pictured above). “Since our strategic update in March, we have significantly improved our focus on our core businesses, and the completion of the sale of CIT Canada represents another important step toward becoming a leading national middle-market bank. We remain focused on executing on our strategic and financial initiatives to improve profitability, return excess capital to shareholders and maintain strong risk management.”