CIT Loans Katz $100M

CIT Group Inc. has agreed to loan Canadian pharmacy billionaire Daryl Katz $100 million toward the purchase of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers.

Katz made the deal to purchase the team from the Edmonton Investors Group for about $200 million in February after nearly a year of negotiating.

"The debt markets have been a little finicky," CIT’s Gordon Saint-Denis told the Wall Street Journal. "But this is a deal for a hockey team in Canada, where hockey is king, and Edmonton has been doing very well from an economic standpoint."

The Rexall pharmacy chain owner has also agreed to pitch in $100 million toward building a new arena for the Oilers, which calls the aging, 18,100-capacity Rexall Place home.