Chesswood Group Limited announced further expansion of its equipment finance footprint in the U.S., with the launch of Tandem Finance Inc. The new firm, based in Houston, TX, provides small and medium sized businesses of all credit profiles with financing for their equipment purchases, through equipment vendors and distributors.

"We identified a significant opportunity to become the first funder in this channel that truly underwrites, funds and administers leases and loans in all credit tiers, leveraging our more than 30 years of unique expertise in both prime and non-prime commercial lending and leasing," said Barry Shafran, Chesswood's CEO.

"Most funders in this channel find it difficult to accommodate non-prime credit applicants so that these applicants are often declined or their transactions are syndicated or sold to other funders. This results in slower processing and lower approval rates for these applicants, disappointing both the equipment vendor and the applicant," added Shafran. "We have been successfully underwriting non-prime credits for small and medium sized businesses for decades, and Tandem Finance will bring this full breadth of product expertise and service to the vendor market."

Chesswood also announced Mike Sheehan has joined its team as President of Tandem Finance. Sheehan has more than 30 years in the equipment finance industry, and in the vendor channel specifically and brings a wealth of expertise and experience to Tandem Finance and Chesswood. Sheehan is working out of Tandem Finance's new offices in Houston.

"We sought out a channel expert that would fit well with our culture, and Mike was a perfect match. We are thrilled to have Mike join our team and lead the way for Tandem Finance," Shafran said.