Masonite is facing a securities class action lawsuit for allegedly failing to disclose, between June 2023 and February 2024, that it received acquisition offers from Owens Corning. While hiding these premium offers, the company repurchased nearly 270,000 shares for roughly $25 million at artificially lower prices, misleading investors, and allegedly earning millions on stock prices that later went up when it was revealed that Owens Corning was making a large offer on the company. 

A number of law firms are investgating the alleged dealings. For instance, Robbins LLP released a statement Feb 13. informing stockholders that a class action was filed on behalf of all sellers of Masonite International Corporation common stock between June 5, 2023 and February 8, 2024. According to the complaint, Masonite made "false and misleading statements to the market. Masonite was aware of multiple acquisition offers from Owens Corning to purchase all outstanding shares of the Company even as it initiated share repurchases from investors. The acquisition offers the Company received were at a share price well above the price it was repurchasing shares from current shareholders.

"Plaintiff alleges that Masonite made no disclosure concerning Owens Corning’s offers for approximately eight months, while the company repurchased millions of dollars of its own shares at prices far below Owens Corning’s offers," the release said. "In total, Masonite repurchased nearly 270,000 of its outstanding shares from unsuspecting investors for approximately $25 million between June 2023 and December 2023, despite knowing that Owens Corning was continuously proposing offers at a significant premium to Masonite’s then stock price."

In addition, on February 9, 2024, Masonite issued a press release announcing the execution of the arrangement agreement. Finally, eight months after receiving the offer, "defendants apprised investors that Owens Corning was willing to pay a significant premium over the market price for Masonite common stock. On this news, Masonite’s common stock price skyrocketed to $130.51 at market close on February 9, 2024, a 35.1% increase over the closing price on the prior trading day."