Tyco Paid $20 Million for Director’s Help

Tyco International Ltd. paid a total of $20 million to one of its outside directors and a charity he controls in exchange for his help in arranging the $10-billion purchase of commercial lender CIT Group Inc. last year.

Tyco, which plans to split into four separate companies, paid Frank E. Walsh Jr. $10 million and contributed $10 million to the Community Foundation of New Jersey, a charity of which Walsh is trustee, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company, which is based in Bermuda and operates out of Exeter, N.H., said it paid Walsh the fee because he was “instrumental in bringing about the acquisition” of CIT Group, according to the filing. Before the acquisition, Walsh owned 50,000 shares of CIT Group, which is now called Tyco Capital Corp.

The payment was earlier reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Tyco shares fell $3 to $42 on the New York Stock Exchange.