The privately held company also has formed a strategic alliance with Chicago-based Cohen Financial aimed at producing more than $5 billion in commercial loans over the next five and one-half years. The alliance set an origination goal for the next 18 months of $300 million.

Under the new strategic alliance agreement, Cohen Financial's staff professionals will be able to use Precept's loan origination process that includes an online system to distribute underwriting information and conduct the loan auction. The Precept system provides a single point for access to multiple lenders who provide loan commitments through a competitive auction.

As part of its Vanguard initiative (a comprehensive review and re-engineering of its corporate systems and processes) Cohen Financial has begun making internal changes to streamline its systems in addition to working with the Precept system. Cohen Financial has offices in nine major markets and a market capitalization in excess of $100 million.