Abacus appoints head of underwriting

Abacus Finance Group has promoted Sean McKeever to lead its underwriting and portfolio management business, the firm announced in a statement Tuesday.

McKeever is a founding member of Abacus who had been a senior vice president prior to his promotion. Prior to joining Abacus in 2011, McKeever led underwriting of senior debt financing at Amalgamated Capital. He has also been a vice president at Churchill Financial and a member of the Leveraged Finance Group at Comerica Bank.

“We had reached a point where we needed additional resources to serve our private equity clients and monitor a growing loan investment portfolio,” said Abacus chairman and chief executive officer Tim Clifford in a statement. “As a co-founder of the firm, Sean has been instrumental in Abacus’ growth and success. His appointment to Head of Underwriting and Portfolio Management recognizes the significant leadership contributions he has made as we successfully built our business and laid the groundwork for our next stage of growth.”

In addition to McKeever’s promotion, Abacus also announced three hires on Tuesday. Vice President Timothy Wong will originate, structure, underwrite and execute new investments. Associate Eric Peterson will assist with similar activities in addition to portfolio management. Chengyuan Zhao will join the firm as an analyst.

Abacus specialises in providing senior financing to private equity backed companies in the lower mid-market. The firm typically invests up to $50 million per debt financing opportunity in companies with EBITDAs between $3 million and $15 million. The firm is an affiliate of New York Private Bank & Trust, the holding company of Emigrant Bank.

Earlier this month, Abacus provided $45 million in senior debt financing to support Thompson Street Partners' formation of BIO-IVT Group, which provides biological research materials to biopharmaceutical companies and other institutions.