Stephen R. Brown, president and chief executive officer of Hudson Valley Bank, the operating subsidiary of Hudson Valley Holding Corp., announced that the bank has formed HVB Equipment Capital LLC.

The new group will be based in New York City and headed by Steven A. Orenstein, an industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience in equipment finance sales and management. Prior to joining Hudson Valley Bank, Orenstein was a senior vice president of the Sterling National Bank Leasing Division. He began his career in healthcare equipment sales and finance and over the years, held a range of positions at companies including Parliament Leasing, Allied Chemical’s Equilease Corporation, Telcom Leasing and Compton Capital, which was merged with Sterling in 1994. He will be joined by a seasoned team of sales and key support personnel.

“HVB Equipment Capital will be a nationwide lender to customers, wholesale partners and manufacturers,” said Brown. “The unit will offer equipment leasing and lending for a wide range of income-producing equipment, including manufacturing, healthcare, technology, and transportation, among others, with a focus on small and middle market transactions in the $100,000 to $5 million range.”

The new unit is a natural extension of Hudson Valley’s longstanding cash-flow commercial and industrial (C&I) lending franchise, as well as a complement to the asset-based lending group that the bank launched late last year.