SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Embattled lender CIT Group Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!cit/quotes/nls/cit (CIT 1.60, -0.60, -27.27%) is in the midst of a last-ditch bid to restructure by handing control to its bondholders, according to a media report late Monday. The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source, reported that the plan would have CIT offer bondholders new debt secured by the firm's assets, alongside nearly all of the equity in the restructured company. If not enough bondholders agree to the plan, the result could be one of the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court filings in U.S. history. CIT's fate has been uncertain for months, after it succumbed earlier this year to a lack of funding and bad commercial and real-estate loans