CIT Group announced that CIT Northbridge Credit, as advised by CIT Asset Management LLC, served as sole lead arranger on a senior secured credit facility to support the acquisition of Baker & Taylor LLC, a premier provider of books, digital content and technology solutions to public and academic libraries.

Baker & Taylor, which is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., was acquired from Follett Corp. by a private investment group led by Amandeep Kochar, who previously served as Baker & Taylor’s general manager and executive vice president.

“As the U.S. economy continues to recover from the pandemic, we see attractive potential to grow our business with public and academic libraries needing content and services to support their readers and researchers,” said Kochar, who is now serving as Baker & Taylor’s CEO and president. “We appreciated the expertise and agility of the CIT Northbridge team in quickly assembling this acquisition financing package.”

“With a 190-year history of success and deep industry relationships, Baker & Taylor is well positioned to prosper as students, scholars and the general public return to their favorite libraries in search of printed and digital content and other information services,” said Neal Legan, who leads CIT Northbridge. “We were pleased to work closely with the company’s leadership to arrange financing to complete this transaction and build a strong and supportive relationship.”