Transportation Companies Seek Flexible Lending Amid Mixed Sector Outlook

Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Updated

Transportation Companies Seek Flexible Lending Amid Mixed Sector Outlook

  • Strength in Commercial Aerospace

  • Defense Sector Focused on Government Budgets

  • Opportunities in Components and Commercial Helicopters

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Transportation companies linked to commercial aviation continue to deliver strong results, while those tied to defense face additional challenges, according to Chris Cantwell, Managing Director and Group Head of CIT Transportation Lending at CIT Group Inc. (NYS: CIT) cit.com, a leading provider of financing and advisory services to small businesses and middle market companies. These issues, among others, are discussed in "Transportation Lending Outlook" (cit.com/cantwell), the latest in a series of in-depth executive video Q&As featured in the award-winning CIT Executive Insights video series (cit.com/executiveinsights).

A Tale of Two Cities


"The industry right now is like a tale of two cities," says Cantwell. "Things tied to the commercial side of the industry are quite strong. We have a very strong outlook and we think our customers are looking at it the same way."

However, uncertainty around government budgets in the United States and abroad has impacted the defense sector. "Our customers who are more tied to the defense budget tend to be more conservative in terms of their outlook and are careful about managing their existing portfolio rather than focusing so much on growth," explains Cantwell.

Opportunities in Components and Commercial Helicopters

Commenting on the most active sectors in the current market, Cantwell says, "Right now we're seeing opportunities on the cash flow side of our business in terms of financing roll-ups of aerospace component manufacturers."

"On the asset side of the business we're seeing many opportunities to provide financing for users and owners of commercial helicopters in areas such as oil and gas, emergency medical services, and search and rescue."

CIT Comfortable Lending Across Transaction Types

In the current environment, companies are looking for their lenders to be flexible and provide a full suite of solutions. "One of the things that's unique about transportation lending, specifically at CIT, is we're just as comfortable doing cash flow deals as we are asset-backed deals," says Cantwell.

"Our ability to do both of those products for our customers, depending on the specific situation they have, is something that separates us from many of our competitors."

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Watch the CIT corporate overview video (cit.com/corporatevideo) that showcases its support of the small business, middle market and transportation sectors.

Follow us on Twitter: @citgroup; on LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/company/cit; on YouTube: YouTube.com/citgroupvideo; and on Facebook: facebook.com/citgroup. Individuals interested in receiving corporate news releases can register at cit.com/newsalerts or subscribe to the RSS feed at cit.com/rss.

About CIT Transportation Lending

CIT Transportation Finance, provides integrated financial solutions to manufacturers, suppliers and service providers in the aerospace, defense, homeland security and government contracting industries cit.com/translending

About CIT

Founded in 1908, CIT (NYS: CIT) is a bank holding company with more than $35billion in financing and leasing assets. It provides financing and leasing capital and advisory services to its clients and their customers across more than 30 industries. CIT maintains leadership positions in small business and middle market lending, factoring, retail finance, aerospace, equipment and rail leasing, and vendor finance. CIT operates CIT Bank (Member FDIC), its primary bank subsidiary, which, through its online bank BankOnCIT.com, offers a suite of savings options designed to help customers achieve a range of financial goals. cit.com



CIT MEDIA RELATIONS:
C. Curtis Ritter
Director of Corporate Communications
973-740-5390
Curt.Ritter@cit.com
or
Matt Klein
Vice President, Media Relations
973-597-2020
Matt.Klein@cit.com
or
CIT INVESTOR RELATIONS:
Ken Brause
Executive Vice President
212-771-9650
Ken.Brause@cit.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America New York

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Transportation Companies Seek Flexible Lending Amid Mixed Sector Outlook originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Advertisement