John Kneisley

John W. Kneisley is a Managing Director at Prospect Capital Management and is listed on Prospect Capital Corporation’s team page as a Managing Director. SEC filings for Prospect-affiliated vehicles describe him as part of the senior management team overseeing investment approval, portfolio management, growth initiatives, and other management functions.

Before Prospect, Kneisley was a senior member of the private investment group at Silver Point Capital from 2006 to 2011. There, he worked on portfolio management, origination, and execution of senior secured loans and certain control investments, and managed Silver Point’s five CLOs.

From 1991 through 2006, Kneisley worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., most recently as a Managing Director in the Leveraged Finance group. His responsibilities there included originating, structuring, and executing senior secured loans, high-yield bonds, bridge loans, and acquisition financings for corporate and sponsor clients.

Kneisley holds a BA summa cum laude from DePauw University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. His LinkedIn profile lists Prospect Capital Management and DePauw University, with education dates of 1987 to 1991.

• Prospect’s relevant strategy is not seed or angel investing; it is private credit and equity-linked investing in established U.S. middle-market companies.
• Prospect states that it provides “one-stop financing solutions from permanent capital funds” to U.S. middle-market companies.
• Typical lower middle-market investments include first lien term loans, unitranche first lien term loans, first lien last-out loans, convertible term loans, second lien loans, preferred equity, minority common equity, and majority common equity.
• Prospect targets borrowers owned by smaller private equity sponsors, independent sponsors, operating executives, management teams, family offices, founders, larger private equity sponsors, and public company shareholders.
• Prospect emphasizes a relationship-oriented approach: early underwriting engagement, direct communication, long-term investing, and having the same team close and monitor investments.
• Prospect’s credit filters include stable operating history, strong market and competitive position, experienced management, asset-light or asset-heavy business models, diverse customers and suppliers, and broad industry applicability.
• Recent Prospect commentary emphasizes first lien senior secured middle-market loans, selected equity-linked investments, and a focus on new investments in companies with less than $50 million of EBITDA.