Kap Haldia
Operator • Investor • Builder
About
Builder. Operator.
Executor.
Kap Haldia is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Keel Merchant Bank, a next-generation merchant bank purpose-built for the middle market.
Kap's career has been defined by one throughline: getting deals done and building the operational infrastructure to make them last. He started at Citi's Global Industrials Group before joining the founding team at Highview Capital, where he completed 50 acquisitions of middle-market companies. After Highview, he founded Sound Partners, completing more than 20 acquisitions of services businesses in under two years before successfully exiting to private equity.
At Keel Merchant Bank, Kap leads execution across four integrated subsidiaries, Keel Advisory (KA), Keel Partners (KP), Keel Capital (KC), and Keel OS, applying a platform-building approach developed across hundreds of transactions and the kind of hands-on operating experience that arms-length advisors cannot replicate.
Career
Experience
Keel Merchant Bank
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
Co-founded Keel Merchant Bank to bring institutional execution to middle-market companies at critical inflection points. Leads firm-wide operations across four integrated subsidiaries: Keel Advisory (KA), Keel Partners (KP), Keel Capital (KC), and Keel OS. Applies a platform-building approach developed across hundreds of acquisitions to every client engagement.
Sound Partners
Founder
Founded and led Sound Partners, completing more than 20 acquisitions of services companies in under two years. Successfully exited the platform to private equity. When a portfolio company required hands-on operational support, relocated to manage day-to-day operations, oversee cash management, and ensure payroll continuity.
Highview Capital
Founding Team Member
Joined the founding team at this middle-market private equity firm and completed 50 acquisitions of American companies across a range of industries. Served as board observer or board member across multiple portfolio companies including American Plastics, Randall Foods, and Gold Star Foods.
Citi
Global Industrials Group
Began career in Citi’s Global Industrials Group, building a foundation in investment banking, deal execution, and capital markets across the industrials sector.
Philosophy
Leadership
The principles that guide how Kap engages with organizations, teams, and the challenges that define them.
Execution Over Frameworks
The difference between a good deal and a great deal is execution, not strategy decks. Getting capital structures right, managing stakeholder complexity, and driving to close requires blocking and tackling, not presentation polish.
Inside the Business, Not Above It
Kap has relocated to support portfolio companies, managed check runs, and ensured payroll ran on time. That level of commitment is not exceptional at Keel Merchant Bank — it is the baseline. Real understanding of a business comes from being inside it.
Platform Thinking
Kap approaches every engagement with a platform-builder's mindset: what does this business need to scale, to attract capital, and to exit on its own terms? That lens, developed across more than 70 acquisitions, shapes how Keel Merchant Bank structures its work with every client.
Advisory First
Keel Merchant Bank's Advisory First™ model means evaluating every situation from the inside before deploying capital or executing a transaction. Kap underwrites from a position of actual operating knowledge, not assumptions made from a data room.
Perspective
Vision
The most valuable thing an advisor can do is help a leader see clearly — not just what is, but what is possible, and what stands in the way.
On Building Companies
Great middle-market companies are not built by financial engineering alone. They are built by operators who understand how to create real value inside real businesses, through disciplined acquisitions, tight capital structures, and management teams held accountable for outcomes.
On Execution
Strategy without execution fails. Kap has spent his career proving that the operators who win are the ones who do the work no one else will: the early mornings, the hard conversations, and the relentless focus on getting the details right.
On Partnership
The best engagements are the ones where Keel Merchant Bank is indistinguishable from the management team. Not advising from the outside, not reviewing a slide deck, but present, accountable, and driving toward the same outcome.
Connect
Get In Touch
For inquiries about Keel Merchant Bank, transaction opportunities, or working with Kap and the Keel team, reach out directly.
Get In Touch