Announcing Harvest Launch

​HARVEST SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE, LLC, ACQUIRES SBA OWNERSHIP LICENSE AND LOANS FROM RECEIVER OF SMALL BUSINESS CAPITAL CORPORATION, HIRES NEW MANAGEMENT 

5/11/2016. Harvest Small Business Finance, LLC (“Harvest”) announced today that it has acquired certain SBA 7(a) loan related assets from the Receiver of Small Business Capital Corporation, a non-bank lender seized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) almost four years ago. These assets include one of the 14 Small Business Lending Company licenses previously authorized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”), $4.2 million of non-guaranteed interests of SBA 7(a) loans, and servicing rights on a $16 million portfolio of SBA 7(a) loans. 
“Harvest Small Business Finance is pleased to make this announcement, as this represents a major opportunity for our company,” said David Scherer, President of Harvest. “The acquisition of this platform provides Harvest the capacity to support small business owners who may not qualify for funds through conventional commercial loan products.” 

Additionally, former Plaza Bankers and Co-Managers Todd Massas and Adam Seery have joined the senior management team at Harvest as Managing Directors, and will jointly oversee sales, originations, and strategic portfolio management. Messrs. Massas and Seery are joining seasoned commercial originators David Scherer, President of Harvest, and Evan Mitnick, Chief Financial Officer of Harvest. Mr. Scherer was formerly President of Lehman Brothers Small Business Finance and Mr. Mitnick was formerly a banker with Prudential Securities and Citigroup. 

“This has been a long time in the making. I have worked with both Todd and Adam previously and I have the utmost respect for their ability and reputation in the industry. Both have proven to be industry leaders in both sales and management in the SBA/Small-balance commercial lending space and we expect they will have an immediate impact on the success of our operation” said Mr. Scherer. Massas and Seery previously managed the Small Business Lending Unit for Plaza Bank, which has been recognized as a top SBA lender at the local, statewide and nationwide levels over the past several years. “We’ve prided ourselves on building systems, hiring the right people and executing our business plan with surgical precision. We will bring the same level of expertise, professionalism and success to Harvest that we did to Plaza Bank” said Massas. "When it comes to SBA 7(a) lending, Harvest intends to be best in class in the sourcing, processing, funding and servicing of 7(a) loans" said Seery. 

Harvest, formed in 2015, is headquartered in Laguna Hills, CA, and offers SBA 7(a) loans up to $5 million to small businesses throughout the United States. An affiliate of Candlewood Investment Group, LP (“CIG”) provides transactional capital to Harvest. CIG is a New York based, SEC registered investment manager with approximately $1.8 billion in net assets under management as of 4/30/2016 in predominantly credit based strategies. 

For more information, visit www.harvestcref.com or call Todd Massas at (858) 414-7600 or Adam Seery at (858) 220-9106.