Textron Financial: Newsroom: Press Release


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TEXTRON FINANCIAL CORPORATION ANNOUNCES FORMATION OF TEXTRON BUSINESS CREDIT, INC.

A Lending Division Dedicated to Meeting the Diverse Financing Needs of Today's Small Business

Providence, Rhode Island - June 19, 2000 - Textron Financial Corporation today announced it has renamed Westminster Development Bank and expanded the business unit to serve the diverse financial needs of the growing small business marketplace. The new unit, Textron Business Credit, Inc., will offer an expanded and comprehensive suite of small business lending services including traditional term and line-of-credit services with Small Business Administration (SBA) products.

"Small business services is a rapidly growing segment of Textron Financial's business," explained Jay Carter, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Textron Financial Corporation. "We are excited that the dreams of small business owners can now become reality with the assistance of innovative services from Textron Business Credit."

To keep pace with the changing needs of the growing small business market, which already represents over 85% of the 12 million US-based companies, Textron Business Credit offers small businesses access to comprehensive lending services previously available only to middle market and Fortune 1000 companies. Available services will include traditional SBA 7A and 504 loan products, franchise finance services for franchise operations with four or fewer locations, line-of-credit facilities to support working capital needs up to $3 million, and secured term loan services for equipment acquisition up to $2.5 million for owner operated businesses secured by commercial real estate and equipment.

"One of Textron Financial's operating priorities is to offer our customers the widest range of financing services to meet their business needs," said Kathy Marien, President of Textron Business Credit. "The broadened capabilities of Textron Business Credit will facilitate access to Textron Financial's formidable commercial finance services and its SBA lending expertise to respond more quickly to the expanding needs of our small business customers."

Similar to its predecessor, Textron Business Credit is a loan and investment bank chartered under Rhode Island banking laws.

About Textron Financial
Textron Financial Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is a diversified commercial finance company with over $7 billion in managed receivables. With operations in term lending and leasing, revolving credit, and specialty finance, Textron Financial is a premier lender to the aviation, golf, vacation interval resort, and franchise finance industries, and provides distribution and end-user financing for syndication, equipment appraisal and disposition, portfolio servicing, and insurance brokerage.

About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) is an $11.6 billion, global, multi-industry company with market-leading businesses in Aircraft, Automotive, Industrial and Finance. Textron has a workforce of over 68,000 employees and major manufacturing facilities in 30 countries. Textron is among Fortune magazine's "Global Most Admired Companies." Additional information is available at www.textron.com.