Form: S-8

Initial registration statement for securities to be offered to employees pursuant to employee benefit plans

May 23, 2024

Documents


As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 23, 2024
Registration No. 333-          
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM S-8
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
BOWHEAD SPECIALTY HOLDINGS INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware 87-1433334
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)  (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
1411 Broadway, Suite 3800
New York, NY 10018
(Address of Principal Executive Offices, including zip code)
Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. 2024 Omnibus Incentive Plan
(Full title of the plan)
H. Matthew Crusey
General Counsel
Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc.
1411 Broadway, Suite 3800
New York, NY 10018
(Name and address of agent for service)
(212) 970-0269
(Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copy to:
Dwight S. Yoo
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
One Manhattan West
New York, NY 10001
(212) 735-3000
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☒ Smaller reporting company ☐
Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐


Part I
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(a) PROSPECTUS
Item 1.    Plan Information.*
Item 2.    Registrant Information and Employee Plan Annual Information.*
*    The documents containing the information specified in Part I of Form S-8 will be sent or delivered to participants in the Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. 2024 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2024 Plan”) as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act. Such documents are not required to be, and are not, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) either as part of this registration statement or as prospectuses or prospectus supplements pursuant to Rule 424 under the Securities Act. These documents and the documents incorporated by reference into this registration statement pursuant to Item 3 of Part II of this registration statement, taken together, constitute a prospectus that meets the requirements of Section 10(a) of the Securities Act.
Part II
INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
Item 3.    Incorporation of Documents by Reference.
Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. (the “Company”) hereby incorporates by reference into this registration statement, the following documents:
(a)    The Company’s prospectus, dated May 22, 2024, filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act, in connection with the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 333-278653), which contains the audited financial statements for the Company’s latest fiscal year for which such statements have been filed; and
(b)    The description of the Company’s common stock contained in the registration statement on Form 8-A filed with the SEC on May 23, 2024 to register such securities under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.
In addition, all documents subsequently filed by the Company pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act, prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this registration statement which indicates that all securities offered have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing of such documents with the SEC.
Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration statement shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this registration statement to the extent that a statement contained in this registration statement, or in any other subsequently filed document that also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration statement, modifies or supersedes such prior statement. Any statement contained in this registration statement shall be deemed to be modified or superseded to the extent that a statement contained in a subsequently filed document that is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference in this registration


statement modifies or supersedes such prior statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this registration statement.
Under no circumstances will any information furnished under Items 2.02 or 7.01 of Current Report on Form 8-K be deemed incorporated herein by reference unless such Form 8-K expressly provides to the contrary.
Item 4.    Description of Securities.
Not applicable.
Item 5.    Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.
Not applicable.
Item 6.    Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), allows a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director or executive officer of the corporation will not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, except where the director or officer breached the duty of loyalty, failed to act in good faith, engaged in intentional misconduct or knowingly violated a law, authorized the payment of a dividend or approved a stock repurchase in violation of Delaware corporate law or obtained an improper personal benefit or the executive officer in any action by or in the right of the corporation. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide for this limitation of liability.
Section 145 of the DGCL (“Section 145”) provides that a Delaware corporation may indemnify any person who was, is or is threatened to be made, party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of such corporation), by reason of the fact that such person is or was an officer, director, employee or agent of such corporation or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was illegal. A Delaware corporation may indemnify any persons who are, were or are a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of such corporation or is or was serving at the request of such corporation as a director, officer employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise. The indemnity may include expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit, provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner he reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests; provided that no indemnification is permitted without judicial approval if the officer, director, employee or agent is adjudged to be liable to the corporation. Where an officer or director is successful on the merits or otherwise in the defense of any action referred to above, the corporation must indemnify him against the expenses which such officer or director has actually and reasonably incurred. Section 145(g) of the DGCL provides, in general, that a corporation may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent


of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against any liability asserted against such person and incurred by such person in any such capacity, or arising out of his or her status as such, whether or not the corporation would have the power to indemnify the person against such liability under Section 145 of the DGCL.
Section 145 further authorizes a corporation to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or enterprise, against any liability asserted against such person and incurred by such person in any such capacity, or arising out of their status as such, whether or not the corporation would otherwise have the power to indemnify him under Section 145.
The amended and restated bylaws of Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. will provide that Bowhead Specialty Holdings Inc. shall, to the fullest extent legally permissible under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, indemnify and hold harmless officers, employees and directors of the Company for certain liabilities reasonably incurred in connection with such person’s capacity as an officer, employee or director.
Item 7.    Exemption from Registration Claimed.
Not applicable.
Item 8.    Exhibits.
The following exhibits are filed herewith or incorporated herein by reference.
Exhibit
Number
 EXHIBIT INDEX
4.1
4.2
5.1
23.1
23.2
24.1
99.1+
99.2+
99.3+
107
__________________
+ Indicates management contract or compensatory plan.


Item 9.    Undertakings.
A. The Company hereby undertakes:
(1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:
(i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act;
(ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than a 20% change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement;
(iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;
Provided, however, that paragraphs (A)(1)(i) and (A)(1)(ii) do not apply if the registration statement is on Form S-8, and the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the Company pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in this registration statement. 
(2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
(3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
B. The undersigned Company hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the Company’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
C. Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Company pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Company has been advised that in the opinion of the Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the


event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Company of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Company in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Company will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.


SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of New York, State of New York, on the 23rd day of May, 2024.
BOWHEAD SPECIALTY HOLDINGS INC.
By
/s/ Stephen Sills
 Name: Stephen Sills
 Title: Chief Executive Officer and President
POWER OF ATTORNEY
KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby authorizes and appoints Stephen Sills and H. Matthew Crusey, or any of them, with full power of substitution and resubstitution and full power to act without the other, as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent to act in his or her name, place and stead and to execute in the name and on behalf of each person, individually and in each capacity stated below, and to file any and all amendments to this registration statement, including any and all amendments thereto, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing, ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them or their or his substitute or substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue thereof.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature Title Date
/s/ Stephen Sills
Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
(Principal Executive Officer)
May 23, 2024
Stephen Sills
/s/ Brad Mulcahey
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
(Principal Financial Officer)
May 23, 2024
Brad Mulcahey
/s/ Shirley Yap
Chief Accounting Officer
(Principal Accounting Officer)
May 23, 2024
Shirley Yap
/s/ Matthew Botein
 Chairperson
May 23, 2024
Matthew Botein
/s/ Angela Brock-Kyle
 Director
May 23, 2024
Angela Brock-Kyle
/s/ Zhak Cohen
 Director
May 23, 2024
Zhak Cohen
/s/ Fabian Fondriest
Director
Director
May 23, 2024
Fabian Fondriest
/s/ David Foy
 Director
May 23, 2024
David Foy
/s/ David Holman
 Director
May 23, 2024
David Holman
/s/ Jack Stein
 Director
May 23, 2024
Jack Stein
/s/ Troy Van Beek
 Director
May 23, 2024
Troy Van Beek
[Signature Page to S-8]