Great Neck, New York, November 6, 2006 -- BRT Realty Trust (NYSE:BRT)
a leading global provider of commercial and consumer finance solutions, and BRT Realty Trust (NYSE: BRT), a mortgage-oriented real estate investment trust, today announced that they have entered into a strategic relationship. The joint venture, known as BRT Funding LLC, will offer short-term commercial real estate mortgage loans (bridge loans), and will have an initial capitalization of up to $100 million. Under the terms of the agreement, CIT will fund 75% of the investment and BRT will fund 25%. BRT will manage the new entity.
“The opportunity to partner with a very well respected and established company like BRT demonstrates our commitment to growing our real estate capital markets business in a unique way,” said Rick Wolfert, CIT Vice Chairman, Commercial Finance. “Both companies will benefit from building a larger and more diverse platform to better meet the financing needs of our clients.”
Jeffrey Gould, President and Chief Executive Officer of BRT said, “We are extremely pleased to enter into this relationship with such a highly regarded and successful commercial and consumer finance company. The demand for BRT’s lending product continues to be strong and this joint venture will provide us with the opportunity to continue to expand our business. We anticipate that our new relationship with CIT will provide the opportunity to access a larger borrower base.”
About CIT
CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT), a leading commercial and consumer finance company, provides clients with financing and leasing products and advisory services. Founded in 1908, CIT has more than $70 billion in managed assets and possesses the financial resources, industry expertise and product knowledge to serve the needs of clients across approximately 30 industries worldwide. CIT, a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 Index, holds leading positions in vendor financing, factoring, equipment and transportation financing, Small Business Administration loans, and asset-based lending. With its global headquarters in New York City, CIT has more than 7,200 employees in locations throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. www.CIT.com.
About BRT
BRT Realty Trust is a mortgage REIT which primarily originates short term first and second mortgage loans. BRT's financial resources, flexibility and expertise enable rapid turnaround on requests for loans secured by income-producing retail, office, industrial and multifamily properties nationwide. www.brtrealty.com.
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CIT MEDIA CONTACTS
C. Curtis Ritter Mary Flynn
Director of External Communications Director of Media Relations
& Media Relations (212) 461-7860
(212) 461-7711 Mary.Flynn@CIT.com
Curt.Ritter@CIT.com
BRT REALTY TRUST MEDIA CONTACT
Simeon Brinberg
Senior Vice President
516-773-2750
BRT is a New York-based Real Estate Investment Trust that specializes in the origination and holding for investment of senior and junior commercial mortgage loans secured by real property in the United States. For more information on BRT, please visit our Home Page.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements: Materials included in this filing may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements that include the words "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," "continues," "forecast," "designed," "goal," or the negative of those words or other comparable words should be considered uncertain and forward-looking.
Contact: Simeon Brinberg, Senior Vice President - (516) 466-3100
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