$22.5M Facility to Exercise Stock Options Under Lock-Up Constraints
Industry:
Energy
Client Profile
Early employee at a post-IPO public company
Services Delivered:
Debt placement, founder liquidity advisory
Engagement Length:
Under 45 days
Situation
An early employee at an energy company that had recently gone public faced a critical deadline. A significant number of stock options were expiring during the company's post-IPO lock-up period. The employee could not sell or pledge shares to cover the exercise costs. The tight timeline and lock-up restrictions created a complex financing need with less than 45 days to execute from the time we were introduced. The client was referred by a trusted advisor at a large universal bank.
Approach
We ran a targeted process to source a capital provider and arranged a $22.5 million loan facility through a capital group we had known for over five years but had not previously transacted with. The relationship and our knowledge of their lending criteria allowed us to move quickly under compressed timelines.
Outcome
Deal closed in under 45 days. The employee exercised all expiring options before the deadline. As of July 2025, the position was worth over $35 million, net of the financing.
