The D & O Diary has written on several prior occasions (here, here and here) about the increasing D & O risk arising from the public company involvement of private fund investors, such as private equity funds, hedge funds and buy-out firms. In a prior post (here), The D &
Is SOX Putting the Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Out of Business?
The Institutional Shareholder Service (ISS) Corporate Governance Blog has a September 7, 2006 post entitled “Has SOX Led to Fewer Lawsuits?” (here) that raises the question whether the declining number of securities lawsuits in 2006 (here) is due to improved corporate governance because of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While the CG
Capitol Hill Looks at Options Backdating
The unfolding options backdating story may have hit its high water mark (or its low point, depending on your perspective) on September 6, 2006, when the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the Senate Finance Committee both held hearings concerning options backdating. The hearings involved the testimony of numerous regulators, academics and
MBOs: Another Example of Private Funding and D & O Risk
The D & O Diary has previously written (here and here) about the problems and conflicts of interests that can arise from the involvement of private fund investors (private equity firms, hedge funds and buyout firms) in publicly traded companies. In a September 3, 2006 column in the New York Times (here
Options Backdating Notes from Around the Web
SEC Options Backdating Investigations List: Directorship.com has posted on its website a hotlinked list of companies (here) that have been contacted by the SEC, revealed a probe by the SEC, or have been subpoenaed by a U.S. attorney, in connection with the options timing investigations. The Wall Street Journal’s Options Scorecard list of
Hedge Fund Hardball and D & O Risk
In a prior post (here), The D & O Diary commented on “Private Money and D & O Risk,” noting the heightened potential for disputes to arise when the new “power players” (private equity funds, hedge funds, and buyout firms) have interests that conflict with those of management, other investors or creditors. An
SOX Consequences: Another Look?
In a prior post (here), The D & O Diary fretted that Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs could be driving foreign companies away from U.S. exchanges or encouraging existing public companies to delist their shares. An August 21, 2006 op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal written by Maurice Greenberg and entitled “Regulation, Yes. Strangulation,
PIPEs Financing and D & O Risk
A casual reader of the New York Times business page or the Wall Street Journal might well get the impression that PIPEs (private investments in public equity) financing transactions are the devil’s own handiwork. Both publications have recently run stories fraught with dire tones and ominous insinuantions about PIPEs transactions. The New York Times August
Proxies, Shareholder Consent, and Options Backdating Litigation
The D & O Diary’s list of options backdating litigation (here) has been updated to include the action (here) filed on August 23, 2006 against Zoran Corporation and ten of its past or present directors and officers. The Zoran complaint presents an interesting variation in the options backdating litigation, because it
Companies Sound “All Clear” on Options Backdating
Earlier in the summer, it was a seemingly daily occurrence for one or more public companies to announce that they were launching internal probes of their options practices. (These announcements were accompanied, and no doubt encouraged, by numerous simultaneous announcements of SEC probes, U.S. Attorney’s subpoenas, and the like.) Now as the summer has, alas,