According to the Wall Street Journal's Monday reports, commercial lender CIT Group Inc has managed to keep its bankruptcy at bay, thanks to a recently-secured $3 billion emergency loan from its bondholders. Last week, CIT's request for federal help had been turned down by the government.

The bailout is apparently a well-calculated move by the bondholders, who probably weighed out the bankruptcy situation - and the consequent sale of assets at extremely low prices - against the rescue offer; and finally decided on the latter, due to comparatively lesser losses!

While the 101-year-old CIT's ability to endure the difficult times still remains a pertinent question, the new financing deal will at least allow the struggling company to undergo a wide-ranging restructuring of its liabilities, in an attempt to curtail the losses of the bondholders.

Going by the information from the sources-in-the-know, the financing deal - which comes at high interest rates and requires CIT to pledge some of its highest-quality loans as collateral - was not a permanent solution to the New York-based CIT's long-term financing problem.

In its first step towards a recapitalization plan, CIT has already initiated a cash tender offer for its outstanding floating rate senior notes due August 17; saying that the proposed plan would "include a comprehensive series of exchange offers designed to further enhance CIT's liquidity and capital."