Gibson Dunn and Davis Polk advise on rocket manufacturer and AI company SpaceX’s debut on the Nasdaq, raising USD75 billion in the largest IPO in history.
The debut on 12 June saw American trillionaire Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, issue 556 million shares at USD135 each. Based on the offer price, the company’s valuation reached USD1.75 trillion.
CNBC cited sources in an 11 June report that around 20% of the IPO shares were allocated to retail investors, down from the 30% previously estimated by the market. In Asia, only retail investors in Japan were able to participate directly in the offering.
The IPO was conducted concurrently in the US, Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan and the UK, with a total of 23 underwriters. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets and JP Morgan were among the underwriters.
Gibson Dunn counselled SpaceX on the IPO, with the law firm’s capital markets team led by partners Hillary Holmes, Harrison Tucker and Atma Kabad. Partners Julia Lapitskaya and Gerry Spedale advised on regulatory matters, while partners Thomas Kim, Brian Lane, Osman Nawaz, Mellissa Duru and Alan Bannister provided securities regulatory advice.
Spedale and partner Collin Cox advised on Texas corporate and litigation law. Partners Gina Hancock and Krista Hanvey provided employment law advice. Partners George Sampas, Rob Little and Chris Trester advised on M&A matters.
Partners Cassandra Gaedt?Sheckter, Vivek Mohan and Frances Waldmann advised on AI?related issues. Partners Madalyn Miller, Matthew Axelrod and Lindsay Paulin provided space regulatory advice. Partner Michael Murphy advised on environmental matters, while partner Bradley Smith provided antitrust advice. Partners Brian Lutz and Stephanie Brooker advised on litigation matters, and partners Michael Cannon and Eric Sloan provided tax advice.
For the international offering, Gibson Dunn’s London partners Steve Thierbach, Michelle Kirschner, Chris Haynes and Benjamin Fryer advised on the UK retail tranche. Madrid partner Armando Albarrán and Munich partner Ferdinand Fromholzer advised on the EU retail offering.
Davis Polk acted as counsel to the underwriters. The firm assembled a cross?office team from New York, Northern California, Tokyo, London and Washington. The team included capital markets partners Byron Rooney, Stephen Byeff and Alan Denenberg. Partner Sanders Witkow advised on bank financing matters.
The Tokyo team included partner Christopher Kodama, while the London team included partner Will Pearce. Partner Pritesh Shah advised on intellectual property and commercial transactions, partner Matthew Bacal advised on data privacy, cybersecurity and AI matters, and partner Adam Kaminsky advised on executive compensation.
The prospectus states that the IPO shares were not made available in the Chinese mainland or Hong Kong. Except as permitted under applicable laws and regulations, the prospectus and any related advertising or offering materials may not be distributed or published in the Chinese mainland.
