A newly filed lawsuit against Oura Health (Oura) highlights how company-directed share repurchases executed shortly before major financing transactions or anticipated IPOs can create significant D&O risk for late-stage private companies domiciled in Delaware. As companies remain private longer, secondary liquidity transactions involving founders, employees, and former executives seeking to monetize their holdings have become increasingly common. At the same time, these transactions can create fertile ground for litigation when significant valuation-enhancing events emerge shortly after a sale closes.

Continue Reading D&O Risks in Pre-IPO Share Repurchases

Sarah Abrams

Bret Hilgart

Corporate share repurchases hit record levels in 2021. But as discussed in the following guest post by Sarah Abrams and Bret Hilgart, share repurchases can sometimes result in litigation and share repurchases could have important implications for directors and officers’ liability. Sarah is Head of Professional Liability at Bowhead Specialty Underwriters and Bret is Head of Commercial D&O at Bowhead Specialty Underwriters. I would like to thank Sarah and Bret for allowing me to publish their article as a guest post on this site. I welcome guest posts from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Sarah and Bret’s article.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Scrutiny Over Share Repurchase Programs; Can The Board Ever Get It Right?