CIT Group today announced that it has agreed to form TC-CIT Aviation Ireland and TC-CIT Aviation U.S. (together TC-CIT Aviation), joint ventures between CIT Aerospace, a global leader in aircraft finance, and Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation (“CTL”), a comprehensive financial services company in Japan with a global presence.

"These joint ventures will provide CIT Aerospace additional opportunities to offer key airline customers financing solutions to support their businesses,” said Jeff Knittel, President of CIT Transportation & International Finance. “TC-CIT Aviation offers us the opportunity to utilize our expertise in commercial aircraft leasing while partnering with CTL, which has a proven track record of success throughout Asia.”

Shunichi Asada, President and CEO of CTL, said, “We are extremely pleased to enter into this relationship with CIT Aerospace, a leader in the commercial aircraft leasing market. These joint ventures will provide us a solid platform for future growth as we look to further expand our aircraft leasing business.”

Under the terms of the agreements, TC-CIT Aviation will acquire commercial aircraft that will be leased to airlines around the globe. Initially, CIT Aerospace expects to sell 14 commercial aircraft to TC-CIT Aviation in transactions with an aggregate value of approximately $0.5 billion and will be responsible for arranging future aircraft acquisitions, negotiating leases, servicing the aircraft and administering the entities. CIT will also make and maintain a minority equity investment in TC-CIT Aviation. CTL will make and maintain a majority equity interest in the joint venture and will be a lender to the newly-established companies. TC-CIT Aviation will be co-managed by CIT Aerospace and CTL. John Morabito, Head of Financial Institutions of CIT Aerospace, and Mahoko Hara, Executive Officer and General Manager, Financing Strategy and Solutions, from CTL will be key representatives from each institution managing the activity of the joint venture.