CIT Group Inc. announced that CIT Maritime Finance provided a $83.7 million senior secured credit facility to PST Tankers LLC, to finance the acquisition of a fleet of eight product tankers managed by Product Shipping & Trading S.A., a company controlled by Pappas family interests. The fleet includes two Handysize (MRs) and six Long Range (LR1s) tankers originally belonging to Omega Navigation.

Financing was provided by CIT Bank, the U.S. commercial bank subsidiary of CIT. The transaction has a five-year term; additional terms were not disclosed.

“This transaction represents our first financing of a fleet of modern product tankers acquired in the secondary market,” said Svein Engh, Managing Director and Group Head of CIT Maritime Finance. “We’re proud to play a role in PST Tankers’ fleet build-up and we look forward to supporting the joint venture and its shareholders further in the future.”

Hamish Norton, Chief Financial Officer of PST Tankers, said, “CIT Maritime Finance demonstrated a deep understanding of our business and the industry in executing a complex financing within a tight schedule. We appreciate their full support in this very strategically important transaction for PST Tankers.”

PST Tankers LLC is a joint venture formed between affiliates of Product Shipping & Trading S.A. and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. The joint venture is an open-ended vessel acquisition partnership formed in April 2013 to acquire primarily modern product and chemical tankers in the secondary market.

CIT Maritime Finance offers senior secured loans, sale-leasebacks, and bareboat charters to owners and operators of oceangoing cargo vessels including tankers, bulkers, container ships, car carriers, as well as offshore vessels and drilling rigs.