Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known commercially as SpaceX, is preparing to set the parameters for its initial public offering as early as Wednesday afternoon, according to people familiar with the situation. The expected disclosure comes via an amended filing that would outline the intended price range and the number of shares the company plans to offer.
Those same people, who asked not to be identified because the details are not yet public, said SpaceX is seeking to raise as much as $75 billion in the sale and is aiming for a market valuation of at least $1.8 trillion. The move precedes what is anticipated to be the biggest listing on record.
Under regulatory rules, companies may begin formally marketing their IPOs once their filing has been public for 15 days. Setting the terms the evening before investor briefings begin would provide prospective buyers additional time to evaluate the proposed valuation. That extra lead time could be particularly useful because SpaceX plans a relatively short roadshow, with the possibility of pricing the offering as soon as June 11.
The underwriting syndicate for the offering is led by a group of major Wall Street banks: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Those firms are working alongside 18 other banks in the transaction.
If the timetable proceeds as described by the people familiar with the plans, the company expects to list on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the ticker SPCX.
Contextual note: the information above is based on reporting attributed to unnamed sources and an anticipated amended filing. The filing, when made public, is expected to spell out the numerical terms that will guide investor evaluation and the marketing period that follows.
What to watch next - Investors and market participants will be following the official amended filing for confirmation of the price band and share count and monitoring the briefings once they begin. The potential for a compressed roadshow and the target pricing date of June 11 are key scheduling elements that could influence demand and distribution among institutional buyers.