Troubled Tyco floats off CIT at £3bn

PUSHED by its nervous bankers to raise cash, scandal-plagued Tyco International is floating one of its biggest divisions, financial services group CIT, on the New York stock market today.

The initial public offering has gone ahead in the teeth of plunging markets, even though the price is well below its target. CIT begins trading today after being priced on MOnday at $23 a share, well under the $25 to $29 original target range. The 200m shares, underwritten by JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, might have met an even worse reception had a rival billion-dollar IPO, Medco Health Solutions, not postponed its launch until later in the week.

Analysts sid Goldman, Morgan and other investment bankers had an interest in Tyco moving to the front of the new-issues queue to raise cash to pay off its $27bn debt. It raised about $4.6bn (£3 billion) with the CIT sale.

Tyco's former chief executive Dennis Kozlowski was arrested on tax evasion charges and the authorities are investigating the company's books. CIT is one of the largest global commercial equipment leasing and financing firms.