James Kirby

James H. Kirby co-founded Deerpath Capital Management in 2007 and serves as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, as well as a member of the firm's Investment Committee. Deerpath is a U.S.-focused private credit and direct-lending manager that finances private-equity-sponsor-backed companies in the lower middle market. As of recent disclosures, the firm manages more than $5 billion in assets and has deployed over $8.8 billion of invested capital across more than 850 investments since inception.

Before founding Deerpath, Kirby was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager in credit investing at Dune Capital Management, LP and its predecessor fund at Soros Fund Management LLC from 2004 to 2006. Earlier, from 1996 to 2003, he was a Managing Director in private equity at Madison Dearborn Partners, where he was part of the communications-industry investment team — giving him a background that spans both control private equity and credit investing.

Kirby holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (1993) and an A.B. from Princeton University (1989).

In May 2023, PGIM — the ~$1.2 trillion global investment management arm of Prudential Financial — announced a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Deerpath Capital. Under the deal, Kirby and co-founder Tas Hasan continued to lead the business as CEO and Chief Operating Officer, respectively.

• Asset class: Senior secured debt / direct lending to lower-middle-market companies — this is credit, not equity or angel investing.
• Check size: Loans generally range from roughly $25 million up to $100 million.
• Borrower profile: Companies backed by private equity sponsors; Deerpath works with more than 400 PE sponsors across the U.S. to source deals.
• Highly selective: "Our investment committee review more than 1,200 potential investments a year to invest in less than 5%."
• Deliberate discipline on size: "We have deliberately avoided the temptation to raise larger funds and allocate to larger loans, despite the obvious operational leverage and profitability benefits, preferring to stay in the lower middle market where the returns and protections are highest."
• Why the lower middle market: Kirby argues this segment "still enjoys full covenant loan terms, other lender protections and lower leverage," and notes scale/consistency is "especially important for Deerpath who focus on the lower middle market."