In August of this year, CIT Group acquired IMB Holdco LLC, the parent company of OneWest Bank NA. The new CIT Group now operates an Internet banking franchise and 70 retail branches in Southern California. It also entered into a partnership with TPG Capital to strengthen its commercial lending program.
Livingston, New Jersey-based CIT Group now provides commercial financing and leasing products and services, mainly transportation, aerospace, rail, manufacturing, and retail. The addition of OneWest Bank, including its board members, such as John Oros of J.C. Flowers & Co., will allow the new company to make good use of its now $50 billion-plus assets. That’s a far cry from 2009, when CIT Group went bankrupt!
Thanks to aggressive restructuring of its balance position through the repayment and refinancing of high-cost debt, CIT Group is set to enhance its average earnings asset, which is predicted to grow 5-10% in the near term. Growth in net finance margin is expected to reach 3.75-4.25% near term as well.
It’s not all sunshine and roses, however. With so much of CIT Group’s risk concentrated in airlines, manufacturing, and transportation, they’re likely to encounter problems if and when any of these areas sees slowed growth.
Still, with a Fitch Rating of BB+/B for long- and short-term Issuer Default Ratings, it looks like the acquisition has put the company in a very positive position. The merger was completed for $3.4 billion in cash and stock, which puts CIT Group at $65 billion in assets and more than $30 billion in deposits. That means lower overall cost of funds and additional selling opportunities that could allow CIT to realize more of its existing net operating loss going forward.
CIT’s acquisition of OneWest both builds up their deposit base and gives them a “more diverse and lower-cost source of funds,” according to John Thain, CIT Group’s chairman and chief executive.
For deposit customers, the most important thing to note is that, going forward, OneWest and CIT will not be considered different banks by the FDIC. Their combined situation will determine FDIC coverage limits moving forward.
