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An Easy-to-Understand Guide to Private Company D&O Insurance

Management Liability

Priya Cherian Huskins, Esq.

Jun 27, 2023

2 minutes

Given the current macroeconomic environment, private companies are staying private longer. If going public is your goal, take this time to place your D&O insurance program.

Given the current macroeconomic environment, private companies are staying private longer. The upside to this is an opportunity to spend more time on public company readiness, including things like environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

If going public is the goal, taking this time to place your D&O insurance program is beneficial too.

By placing D&O insurance while the company is still private, you can build relationships with public company insurers. You can also avoid having to make any warranty statement for at least the first layer or layers of insurance the company will rely on after going public.

Of course, there are other reasons that private companies choose to buy D&O insurance, such as attracting and retaining top-tier directors and being prepared for potential shareholder lawsuits, to name two.

Each year, Woodruff Sawyer releases its Guide to Private Company D&O Insurance. In the 2023 edition, we cover everything private companies need to know about directors and officers liability insurance.

When you access the guide, you’ll find out more about:

Specific reasons to buy private company D&O insurance.
What D&O insurance is, including Side A, Side B, Side C, standalone Side A and DIC, and D&O tail policies (click the links to access our whiteboard videos on the topics).
Key D&O insurance exclusions like intentional fraud and insured versus insured.
How to structure your D&O insurance program, and how to choose limits.
Important timelines and processes for placing D&O insurance ahead of going public.
Why having a specialty broker is key (I talk more about this in my NYSE Floor Talk at the 2023 IPO Summit).