Alliance Partners Establishes Equipment Finance Arm

Armed with $150 million of fresh capital, Alliance Partners in Chevy Chase, Md., has announced that it is adding an equipment finance unit to go along with its existing corporate lending service.

Alliance is the parent company of BancAlliance, a two-year-old network that helps community banks team up on corporate loans that are generally too large for one bank to make on its own. The company raised $150 million last week from both new and existing investors and it said Monday that some of the proceeds would be used to establish an equipment finance team that can help banks collaborate on leases ranging from $5 million to $100 million.

The team is headed by managing director Jay Squiers and directors Jim Lyons and Drew Hayes. All were previously with CSG Investments, an affiliate of Beal Bank in Plano, Tex. Combined, the three have 65 years of commercial lending experience.

In a news release, Squiers said that BancAlliance will finance equipment leases in a range of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, technology and agriculture. "We believe that our experience with equipment finance loans, commercial asset origination and loan portfolio management will afford our member banks the diversification and incremental returns they desire to compete with their larger competitors," he said.

BancAlliance currently works with more than 50 banks in 26 states.