Japanese investors sought more than $6.2 billion worth of SpaceX shares at IPO, sources say

By Anton Bridge and Miho Uranaka

TOKYO, June 13 (Reuters) – Japanese investors were willing to subscribe to more than 1 trillion yen ($6.2 billion) of shares in SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO, two sources familiar with the offering said.

The majority of the demand came from retail investors, added the sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak publicly about the IPO.

Japanese investors ultimately received $2.2 billion worth of shares, a filing showed on Friday.

The oversubscription rate was roughly in line with global demand for Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite communications ​company, which raised $75 billion in the world’s largest-ever public listing. The IPO drew $250 billion of investor demand worldwide, Reuters reported this week.

Mizuho Securities USA, an arm of Mizuho Financial Group that acted as the sole Japanese underwriter for the IPO, declined to comment on the total scale of Japanese investor demand.

A Mizuho Securities spokesperson said an in-house survey showed more than 1,000 Japan-based customers sought allocations of over 100 million yen ($624,500) and that some investors sought more than 10 billion yen.

Customer applications to open Mizuho Securities accounts in the first third of June were four times higher than the average over the last 12 months, the spokesperson added.

The IPO had an unusually high allocation reserved for retail investors of up to 30%. Investors could land more shares if underwriters exercise their right to sell additional stock, a decision typically made within 30 days after the offering.

($1 = 160.14 yen)

(Reporting by Anton Bridge and Miho Uranaka; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)