Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. ("Live Oak") (Nasdaq:LOB) recently announces Heather Endresen and Lisa Forrest will serve as senior loan officers for the bank's new mergers and acquisitions (M&A) lending team.

This segment was developed to help customers understand the process of buying other businesses and the role of financing in structuring a transaction, according to a press release.

"Selling or merging a business is incredibly complex and often overwhelming for business owners," Kay Anderson, director of emerging markets at Live Oak Bank, said in the release. "This new segment, under the direction of seasoned industry experts, will help M&A advisors, intermediaries and individuals or groups structure their M&A business."

Endresen has launched and served as managing director of several successful SBA lending business units over the past 20 years, including Citibank, Union Bank and most recently Banc of California, a top 100 SBA bank.

In the past five years, she developed a passion and a strategic focus for acquisition lending utilizing the SBA 7(a) program. Live Oak officials said she is an industry leader in this niche and is able to assist sellers, buyers and acquisition advisors in structuring financing that addresses the needs of all parties. 

Forrest brings more than 28 years of SBA-specific lending experience "and is widely regarded as one of the industry's go-to M&A financing resources for top-tier, lower middle market SBA transactions," officials said.

Over the past five years, Forrest funded more than $150 million in SBA loans for M&A transactions on a nationwide basis.

Prior to joining Live Oak Bank, Forrest led business development efforts for Union Bank and Fortune Bank, established a sales presence for Well Fargo in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and served as the COO for The Money Store/First Union. Most recently, she served as a director and business development officer for Banc of California's national M&A lending division.

"Broad financing options, flexible terms, competitive rates, speed and technology are just a few of the benefits of working with Live Oak Bank to finance M&A - along with the extensive expertise of our lending team," Anderson said. "Our deep understanding of M&A means we understand complex equity structures and are able to structure deals that go beyond the transaction itself to ensuring a successful business in the long term."

Live Oak Bank specializes in acquisition financing across all industries nationwide, with maximum project size of $8 million. We offer a consultative relationship to help customers navigate the complex M&A process with extensive financing options, flexible terms and unparalleled technology that allows real-time transparency. Whether you are a broker, intermediary, search fund or individual, our team will help you understand the process of acquiring a business structured with SBA financing.