San Francisco – November 23, 2021 – Cooley advised Allbirds, a global lifestyle brand, on its $348.3 million initial public offering of 23,221,152 shares of Class A common stock, which now trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol BIRD. Partners Nicole Brookshire, Peter Werner and Calise Cheng led the Cooley team advising Allbirds.
Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and BofA Securities acted as lead book-running managers for the offering. Baird, William Blair, Piper Sandler, Cowen, Guggenheim Securities, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Stifel, Telsey Advisory Group, CL King & Associates, Drexel Hamilton, Loop Capital Markets, Penserra Securities, Ramirez & Co., and Siebert Williams Shank acted as co-managers for the offering.
In 2016, Allbirds earned its B Corporation certification and, with Cooley's counsel, converted to a public benefit corporation, codifying how it takes into account the impact its actions have on stakeholders, including the environment, its employees, communities, consumers and investors. The company believed that the market lacked a meaningful, simple and credible mechanism through which late-stage private companies, companies preparing to go public and early-stage public companies can demonstrate their environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.
This focus on impact led to the creation of the Sustainability Principles and Objectives (SPO) Framework. The framework helped Allbirds ensure that it considered positive ESG outcomes, as well as the need to mitigate negative ESG factors, and demonstrate its commitment to meeting a high standard of ESG criteria across its business. Allbirds' aim is that the framework will further focus attention on the fundamental importance of sustainability in business.
Cooley has been longtime counsel to Allbirds, advising the company since its formation in 2015. The firm has helped Allbirds stay true to its vision and values through all stages of growth, including each of its financing rounds, development of the SPO framework and Nasdaq debut.