BlackRock has submitted an order of at least $5 billion for SpaceX shares ahead of the aerospace company’s record-shattering initial public offering.
- BlackRock’s $5 billion order is joined by similarly massive requests from other prominent asset managers, sovereign wealth funds and family offices.
- Individual retail investors have requested well over $70-billion worth of shares, aligning with CEO Elon Musk’s intention to allocate an unusually high portion (potentially up to 30%) of the IPO to public buyers.
- Musk offered investors a “take-it-or-leave-it” price of $135 a share.
Investment giant BlackRock Inc.(BLK) has placed an order to purchase at least $5 billion worth of SpaceX stock ahead of the aerospace company’s highly anticipated market debut.
The multibillion-dollar bid highlights an extraordinary wave of investor demand for what is poised to become the largest initial public offering in history. Other major asset management firms have submitted orders of similar scale, according to a report on Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
SpaceX IPO Sees Massive Institutional And Retail Demand
Elon Musk’s Hawthorne, California-based rocket and satellite company, is aiming to raise $75 billion in a single offering at a staggering valuation of around $1.75 trillion. SpaceX is expected to finalize its pricing on Thursday evening before officially listing its shares on the Nasdaq on Friday morning under the ticker symbol "SPCX."
The sheer scale of BlackRock’s order underscores the historic nature of the deal. To put it in perspective, the single $5-billion request roughly equals the total $5.55 billion raised by artificial intelligence chipmaker Cerebras Systems earlier this month, which had previously held the title of the year's largest IPO.
Institutional heavyweights are not the only ones rushing to get a piece of the space exploration juggernaut. Retail and individual buyers have flooded bankers with requests totaling well over $70 billion, sources told the Journal. Family offices and sovereign wealth funds have further ballooned the order book, with one single family office reportedly seeking more than $1 billion in shares.
According to Bloomberg, retail orders have crossed $100 billion.
SpaceX IPO Oversubscribed
The staggering oversubscription suggests that investors will face steep cuts to their final allocations, a common occurrence when demand vastly outstrips available supply. However, retail investors may get a bigger slice than usual. Musk has indicated he intends to steer as much as 30% of the total allocation to everyday individual buyers.
The massive influx of capital comes despite an unconventional approach to the traditional IPO process. Musk bypassed the standard Wall Street roadshow of adjusting prices based on investor feedback, instead setting a strict, non-negotiable price of $135 per share.
Furthermore, the offering faces political headwinds. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) recently sent a 12-page letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission requesting a formal delay of the IPO. Warren raised concerns over investor protection, corporate transparency, and Musk’s unprecedented retention of 85% of the company's voting power.
Bankers closed the order book on Wednesday and are currently finalizing allocations ahead of Friday's opening bell.
SpaceX IPO: Retail View
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits was ‘extremely bullish’ with ‘extremely high’ message volumes.
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