CIT Group Inc., a 101-year-old commercial lender, filed for bankruptcy with financing from investor Carl Icahn after the credit crunch dried up its funding and a U.S. bailout and debt exchange offer failed.

New York-based CIT listed $71 billion in assets and $64.9 billion in debt in a Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. None of its operating subsidiaries, including CIT Bank, a Utah-based bank, were included in the filing, and operations will proceed as normal, CIT said in a statement.

The bankruptcy �will allow CIT to continue to provide funding to our small business and middle-market customers,� said Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Peek in a statement.

CIT has $1 billion from Icahn to fund operations while it reorganizes. The credit line, to be drawn on until Dec. 31, will be a so-called debtor-in-possession loan.

The company had asked bondholders to exchange $30 billion in debt for new securities and equity. Icahn made a competing offer. After CIT�s offer expired at midnight on Oct. 29, the company said it was tallying 150,000 ballots.

The company�s debt holders had rejected the exchange offer, with 90 percent of holders who voted opting for the prepackaged bankruptcy plan. The plan will cut $10 billion in debt, and CIT seeks �quick confirmation� of its plan, CIT Group said in a statement.

CIT said it would try to emerge from bankruptcy two months from the date of its filing.

(Source: Bloomberg.com)