Chesswood Group Limited ("Chesswood") announced that it has completed the purchase of all of the outstanding shares of Northstar Leasing Corporation ("Northstar"), a long-standing non-prime commercial equipment finance company, located in Barrie, Ontario.

The entire Northstar team will remain with the Company and apply their expertise in support of Chesswood's growth in Canada. Chesswood is a major competitor in this market in the U.S. through its wholly owned subsidiary Pawnee Leasing Corporation.

"We are excited by the opportunity to join Chesswood and to lead its growth in the Canadian market" said Bruce Collingwood, Northstar's Chief Financial Officer.

"We are thrilled to now have a North-American small ticket platform. Chesswood can offer its products and services to brokers and their customers, regardless of which country they operate in" said Barry Shafran, Chesswood's President and CEO. "Northstar has decades of experience and we believe that this experience coupled with Pawnee's expertise, will allow the businesses to leverage the strengths of one another" added Shafran.

Chesswood paid $10.4 million, in cash, for the shares of Northstar. Northstar has gross receivables of approximately $16.0 million.

Chesswood is a specialty finance company with operating businesses in both Canada and the  U.S.