SpaceX IPO draws twice its target in orders as Korean investors snap up allotment in minutes

Global investor enthusiasm for SpaceX's initial public offering is running high. Orders have piled up to nearly twice the company's fundraising target, and in South Korea, the allotted subscription shares sold out almost immediately.

According to Reuters and other international media, SpaceX secured approximately $150 billion (about 229 trillion won) in preliminary investment demand during its recent book-building process — roughly double its $75 billion (about 114 trillion won) fundraising target.

The $75 billion target is itself considered the largest IPO fundraising goal in history. Markets are closely watching the fact that more than twice that amount has already been indicated in orders.

The figures currently tallied reflect early indications of interest rather than final confirmed orders. With the investor roadshow still under way, the actual order volume could shift before the offering price is set. Large institutional investors — including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and global asset managers — often submit their orders in the final stretch of an IPO, and analysts say final demand could climb even higher.

SpaceX is scheduled to officially list on the Nasdaq on Friday. The offering price has been set at $135 per share (about 200,000 won).

Demand among Korean investors has been equally strong. In the first-round subscription that Mirae Asset Securities conducted June 5, the entire $300 million (about 458.3 billion won) allotment sold out immediately after sales opened. A second-round subscription held Monday was exhausted in roughly two minutes.

The subscription was open to qualified individual and corporate investors. The total offering size was $500 million (763.9 billion won), with a minimum subscription of $100,000 (about 152.78 million won) and a maximum of $3 million (about 4.583 billion won).

Ahead of the listing, SpaceX conducted a 5-for-1 stock split and reserved 30 percent of the IPO shares for retail investors — a notably high allocation compared with the typical 10 to 15 percent seen in US IPO markets.

Korean retail investors, however, were ultimately shut out of the public subscription. A tight timeline for reviewing the securities registration statement meant the process could not be completed in time, and Mirae Asset Securities proceeded through a private placement targeting qualified investors only, leaving ordinary investors unable to participate directly in the SpaceX IPO.

Retail investors are now turning to space and aerospace exchange-traded funds and related stocks as an indirect route into the SpaceX story.

Fund flows into relevant ETFs bear that out. According to Korea Exchange, retail investors net purchased 41 billion won worth of the TIGER US Space Tech ETF on Monday. The ACE US Space Tech Active ETF drew 14.4 billion won in net retail buying, followed by the KODEX US Space & Aerospace ETF at 3.1 billion won and the SOL US Space & Aerospace TOP10 ETF at 1.3 billion won.

Asset managers are also moving to capture the demand. Korea Investment Management announced Thursday that it would incorporate SpaceX shares acquired through the IPO into its ACE US Space Tech Active ETF. The firm secured the shares by re-subscribing through IPO lead underwriters Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, allowing the ETF to hold SpaceX from the offering stage onward.

Mirae Asset Global Investments, Samsung Asset Management and Shinhan Asset Management each plan to add SpaceX to their respective space-related ETFs after the listing, with allocations of up to 25 percent.

moon@heraldcorp.com