Billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered a six billion dollar loan Monday to ailing lending giant CIT Group, calling it an alternative to a plan he said favours large bondholders. Icahn made the offer in a letter to the board of the troubled business lender, which has been on the brink of bankruptcy since the US government declined to provide a bailout earlier this year.
Icahn, who has made a name for himself as a corporate raider, said the CIT board was "shamelessly offering certain large unsecured bondholders the opportunity to purchase six billion dollars in secured loans in the company at well below fair market value." "The largest holders will be given that right at the expense of thousands of smaller bondholders who will not be given the same opportunity," said Icahn, who said he was the largest CIT creditor.