US companies that go public are at a greater risk of being targeted by non-practising entities and should consider defensive strategies, according to counsel.

Sources say savvy NPEs are increasingly targeting smaller companies that they believe they can exert leverage over. The views come as a study commissioned by the LOT Network, which seeks to protect its members against NPEs, revealed that almost 40% of companies that went public between 2017 and 2022 were targeted by an NPE either two years before or two years after they made their initial public offering (IPO).