Heller Banker Departs for Trivest

Daniel Marszalek has been tabbed as group president of corporate finance at Heller Financial Inc., replacing Mark Abbott who has left the Chicago-based lender to join Trivest Inc. as a senior partner.

“This was a decision he made to pursue the area of business-to-business Internet initiatives,” Marszalek said.

Heller’s corporate finance group provides middle market companies with a variety of services including cash flow lending, equity co-investing and capital markets syndications. Marszalek said as much as three-quarters of the group’s business is related to private equity, with lending to buyout firms accounting for the vast majority of the firm’s business.

The new president said he will not fundamentally change the group’s strategy, but did note that the firm intends to expand its specialty teams and increase product offerings.

Marszalek has been with Heller for 15 years, most recently serving as executive vice president in corporate finance. He has also managed four regional deal teams – health care specialty, private equity investment, energy and project finance and an investment in a specialty media and communications lender.

Abbott joined Heller in 1999 as a vice president in the leveraged funding group and became group president in 1997. Abbott could not be reached for comment by press time.