Senior appointment underscores the firm’s continued focus on enhancing technology and data capabilities to support investment platform evolution

DALLAS and NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Canyon Partners (“Canyon”), a $30 billion global alternative investment manager, today announced the appointment of Chris Hansen as Partner and Chief Information Officer.

Based in New York, Mr. Hansen oversees the firm’s technology strategy and infrastructure, including information technology, business technology, engineering, data architecture, and the integration of artificial intelligence and alternative data across Canyon’s investment platform. He will work closely with Canyon’s investment and operating teams to further integrate technology and data across investment research, underwriting, portfolio management, and firmwide operations.

Mr. Hansen joins Canyon from TPG Angelo Gordon, where he served as Managing Director and Head of Product and Application Development. During his twelve-year tenure at the firm, he led the modernization of the firm’s technology stack, including its cloud migration and the rebuilding of its portfolio analytics platform. Mr. Hansen also drove the early adoption of AI and alternative data across the firm. Prior to TPG Angelo Gordon, Mr. Hansen was Managing Director for Global Markets Electronic Trading Technology at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

“Chris brings to the firm significant experience at the intersection of technology and investment management,” said Jonathan Kaplan, Co-Chief Operating Officer. “Technology and data are integral to our investment process, helping our teams identify opportunities, evaluate risk, and deliver value for clients. We are excited to welcome Chris to Canyon and look forward to further leveraging his expertise across the entire platform.”

About Canyon Partners, LLC

Founded in 1990, Canyon employs a deep value, credit intensive approach across public and private corporate credit, asset-backed credit, and real estate. The firm seeks to capture excess returns available to those investors with specialized expertise, rigorous research capabilities, and the ability to underwrite complexity. Canyon invests on behalf of a broad range of institutions globally. For more information visit www.canyonpartners.com.

Media Contact
Canyon Partners
Pro-Canyon@prosek.com
203-745-2523

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SOURCE Canyon Partners, LLC

ELFA’s 2026 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity shows that lender processing costs per booked small-ticket lease or loan rose more than $300 per contract in 2025, while volumes fell.

FAIRPORT, N.Y., Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Total processing and overhead cost per booked small-ticket equipment finance transaction rose to $2,729 in 2025, up $322 from $2,407 a year earlier, according to a QuickFi® analysis of data compiled and recently released by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) in its 2026 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity.

Among lenders in this year’s ELFA annual benchmarking survey, small-ticket sales, general and administrative expenses rose about 7%. The number of small-ticket transactions booked fell about 7%. On that like-for-like basis, total processing cost per booked transaction in 2025 rose about 14%.

The ELFA figures include total lender processing and overhead costs and exclude credit losses. The $2,729-per-transaction cost metric measures operating overhead — sales, staff, technology, and general administration — divided by the number of transactions lenders booked, so the cost of applications that never close is carried by the deals that do.

“The industry isn’t experiencing a staffing problem or a technology-budget problem,” said Bill Verhelle, CEO of QuickFi. “It’s an operating model problem. When employees must touch every application, significant cost reduction isn’t possible.” Embedded lending technology costs a fraction of the expense required to operate the traditional business model.

Methodology — The per-transaction figures are QuickFi’s calculations from recently published ELFA annual survey data, not figures reported directly by ELFA: 2025 small-ticket segment sales, general and administrative expense of $1.796 billion (2026 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity, Figure 17f) divided by 658,070 small-ticket applications booked and funded or sold (2026 Small-Ticket Survey of Equipment Finance Activity, Figure 13a) equals $2,729. The 2024 figure of $2,407 applies the same calculation to the 2025 editions; the 2026 edition restates 2024 for its respondent group at $2,387. ELFA defines small-ticket transactions to include leases and loans with an equipment cost between $25,000 and $250,000 each. Provision for credit losses is excluded. ELFA data is used for industry benchmarking only; ELFA has not reviewed or endorsed this analysis or QuickFi.

About QuickFi
QuickFi’s patented, AI-powered model has earned a 4.9/5 Trustpilot customer rating. QuickFi serves global manufacturers and banks throughout the U.S. and Canada and has patents issued or pending in ten countries.

QuickFi costs $799 per booked transaction, with no additional charge for credit declines or pre-booking services. As QuickFi continues to gain scale, it expects per-transaction pricing to fall below $500 per lease or loan by 2028, even as industry costs continue to rise.

As a system of action — not a traditional system of record — QuickFi enables banks and global OEMs to directly and cost-efficiently serve SMB borrowers with embedded lending solutions at the moment and location of equipment sale completion, 24/7/365. QuickFi partners employing the award-winning technology deliver a highly differentiated customer buying experience.

For more information, visit https://quickfi.ai.

Media Contact
Joseph Vu, SVP Marketing, QuickFi
424545@email4pr.com | 585-207-0279

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SOURCE QuickFi

Michael Masiuk joins as Managing Director, focused on growth capital and deal origination

NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — B. Riley Securities, Inc., a leading full-service investment bank, today announced that Michael Masiuk has joined the firm’s Investment Banking team as Managing Director, based in New York.

Mr. Masiuk expands B. Riley Securities’ growth and private capital, M&A advisory, and proprietary deal origination capabilities, deepening coverage of corporate and financial sponsor clients in the sports, media, and technology sectors.

“Michael brings deep relationships with founders, operators, and institutional investors, along with extensive experience across public and private capital markets,” said Andy Moore, CEO of B. Riley Securities. “His expertise in sports, media, and technology further fortifies our platform, and his addition reflects our commitment to adding senior talent across high-growth sectors.”

Mr. Masiuk brings over 25 years of experience across investment banking, hedge funds, and the entertainment industry, with specialized expertise in sports, media, and technology. He possesses a strong track record of originating and executing transactions across public and private capital markets, including growth equity, crossover rounds, and buyouts. His work bridges private growth-stage capital and public market execution, and he has built a proprietary pipeline through long-standing relationships with key industry stakeholders and institutional backers.

“Companies across the sports, media, and technology landscape increasingly need a partner who understands both private growth capital and the public markets,” said Mr. Masiuk. “B. Riley Securities’ institutional platform enables us to take relationships with founders and investors from first conversation through execution, whether a growth round, a crossover, or a path to the public markets.”

Throughout his career, Mr. Masiuk has advised public and private companies on equity, debt, and hybrid financings, and his advisory work spans multiple professional sports leagues and franchises, public and private media companies, and growth-stage technology businesses transitioning to the public markets. He joins from Clear Street, where he was a Managing Director focused on proprietary deal origination, and previously served as a Managing Director at Cantor Fitzgerald and as a partner at The Schottenfeld Group. He holds a B.A. from Saint Anselm College.

For more information about B. Riley Securities’ investment banking services, visit www.brileysecurities.com/investment-banking.

About B. Riley Securities, Inc.

B. Riley Securities, Inc. provides a full suite of investment banking and capital markets services to corporations, financial sponsors, and institutional investors across all industry verticals. Services include initial and follow-on offerings, debt and equity-linked solutions, institutional private placements, merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory, corporate restructuring, and liability management. Widely recognized for its thematic proprietary equity research, B. Riley Securities offers clients an extensive network, deep industry expertise, and proven execution capabilities through its end-to-end platform. For more information, visit www.brileysecurities.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact:
Jo Anne McCusker | B. Riley Securities | press@brileysecurities.com 

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SOURCE B. Riley Securities