Pankaj Gupta

Pankaj Gupta is the Chief Executive Officer of H.I.G. WhiteHorse, the direct-lending business of H.I.G. Capital, where he oversees the U.S. Direct Lending platform and origination and deployment efforts globally. He joined WhiteHorse in 2012 and has for years been titled President of WhiteHorse U.S. and Global Head of Originations; more recent firm and press references now list him as CEO of the U.S. Direct Lending business, with firm co-founder Stuart Aronson serving as Chairman. He sits on the management and investment committees for H.I.G. WhiteHorse in both the U.S. and Europe.

He brings over 23 years of experience investing in private debt and equity across a broad range of industries. Before H.I.G. WhiteHorse, Gupta was a Managing Director at American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS), a large publicly traded middle-market investment firm, where he was co-head of the debt investment business. Earlier, he spent six years at Audax Group, a Boston- and New York-based private equity and mezzanine firm.

Gupta earned a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College. Under his origination leadership, H.I.G. WhiteHorse has invested roughly $18 billion across more than 285 U.S. middle-market companies, and in 2025 closed its $5.9 billion H.I.G. WhiteHorse Middle Market Lending Fund IV — one of the larger dedicated middle-market credit vehicles raised that year.

• Provides senior secured, floating-rate loans (first lien and unitranche) to performing lower-middle and middle-market U.S. companies — this is credit, not equity/angel investing.
• Lends to both sponsor-backed and non-sponsor (direct/proprietary) borrowers, a differentiator versus pure sponsor-finance lenders; Fund IV explicitly targets both channels with EBITDA generally $30M–$100M.
• Emphasizes conservative structuring — modest loan-to-value, bespoke covenants, and downside protection; in public commentary he and colleagues have warned about aggressive underwriting, covenant-lite structures, and partial-PIK provisions that create recession vulnerability.
• Transaction sizes generally run $40M–$400M, used for buyouts, acquisition financing, refinancings, and recapitalizations.
• Underwriting favors durable middle-market business fundamentals and cash-flow stability over cyclical or consumer-pressured sectors; he has flagged caution around restaurants/retail and the multi-year disruption AI may bring to areas like radiology and professional services.