Billionaire Icahn Reports Holding 6.1% Stake in New CIT Shares

Bloomberg
December 21, 2009

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who battled with CIT Group Inc.’s management before agreeing to support a prepackaged bankruptcy, reported holding a stake equal to almost 6.1 percent of shares outstanding.

Icahn, who said he was CIT’s largest bondholder before its bankruptcy, reported a stake of 12.1 million shares in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today. New York-based CIT exited bankruptcy this month and its new stock began trading Dec. 10, less than two months after filing to reorganize.

Bankruptcy helped the company trim more than $10 billion in debt and extend bond maturities for three years. Icahn had made a competing offer, then supported CIT’s prepackaged bankruptcy after the lender agreed to corporate-governance changes. CIT collapsed amid losses tied to subprime lending and was unable to gain funding from the commercial-paper market.

CIT shares rose 73 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $28.23 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. CIT spokesman Curt Ritter wasn’t immediately able to confirm if Icahn was the largest shareholder.