CIT and NORD/LB Arrange $91 Million Financing for Mesa Airlines

NEW YORK, May 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) today announced that it served together with NORD/LB as co-lead arrangers and joint documentation agents on a $91 million term loan financing on behalf of Mesa Airlines, the fifth largest independent regional air carrier in the U.S.

The financing, arranged by CIT's Aerospace, Defense & Government Finance business and NORD/LB, was used to underwrite the purchase of aircraft engines for Mesa's fleet of aircraft. Mesa services routes for national air passenger carriers and has about 3,400 employees, including about 1,200 pilots and 900 flight attendants.

"We appreciated the experience and agility of the co-lead arrangers in assembling this financing as Mesa continues to pursue higher operational capabilities and growth opportunities," said Mesa Airlines President and Chief Financial Officer Mike Lotz.

"We were pleased to leverage our deep capital markets expertise to develop a creative solution for this financing transaction that meets Mesa's business objectives," said John Heskin, managing director and group head for CIT's Aerospace, Defense & Government Finance group.

"CIT and NORD/LB are excited to expand their relationship with Mesa and continue to support them through their growth and evolution," said Claudia Ziemer, NORD/LB's relationship manager, Aircraft Finance Team Americas.

CIT's Aerospace, Defense & Government group, part of the company's Commercial Finance division, offers asset backed loans for commercial aircraft, aircraft engines and aircraft parts as well as cash flow loans to manufacturers, service providers and private equity sponsors in the sector.

NORD/LB's Aircraft Finance Division offers a broad variety of commercial aircraft loans to airlines and lessors worldwide.

About CIT
CIT is a leading national bank focused on empowering businesses and personal savers with the financial agility to navigate their goals. CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is a financial holding company with over a century of experience, approximately $50 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2018, and operates a principal bank subsidiary, CIT Bank, N.A. (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender). The company's commercial banking segment includes commercial financing, real estate financing, equipment financing, factoring and railcar financing. CIT's consumer banking segment includes its national online bank, CIT Bank, and a Southern California branch bank, OneWest Bank. Discover more at cit.com/about.

About NORD/LB
With total assets of ? 154 billion, NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank is one of Germany's leading merchant banks. Its core business segments include structured finance in the energy and infrastructure sector, aircraft finance, corporate client business, commercial real estate finance, capital market business and private and commercial client business including private banking. The Bank has headquarters in Hanover, Braunschweig and Magdeburg. NORD/LB also has branches in Bremen, Oldenburg, Hamburg, Schwerin, Düsseldorf, Munich and Stuttgart. Outside Germany, NORD/LB is active in Luxembourg with a covered bond bank (NORD/LB Covered Bond Bank) and also has offices in London, New York, Singapore and Shanghai.
www.nordlb.com

About Mesa Airlines
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, Mesa Air Group is the commercial aviation holding company of Mesa Airlines, a regional air carrier providing scheduled passenger service to 121 cities in 39 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and the Bahamas. As of April 30th, 2019, Mesa operated a fleet of 145 aircraft with approximately 601 daily departures and 3,400 employees. Mesa operates all of its flights as either American Eagle or United Express flights pursuant to the terms of capacity purchase agreements entered into with American Airlines, Inc. and United Airlines, Inc.

MEDIA RELATIONS: 
John M. Moran
212-461-5507
[email protected]

SOURCE CIT Group Inc.