By Echo Wang
NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - SpaceX outlined details of its highly anticipated IPO at a meeting with its team of bankers Monday night, telling them it plans to earmark a large portion of shares for retail investors and will host 1,500 of them at an event in June following the IPO roadshow launch, according to two people familiar with the matter.
"Retail is going to be a critical part of this and a bigger part than any IPO in history," Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said during the
virtual meeting, the two people said, asking not to be identified because the discussion was private.
Johnsen said the large retail component is by design as "those are folks that have been incredibly supportive of us and of Elon (Musk) for a long time, and we want to make sure that we recognize that."
Reuters reported last month that SpaceX is rewriting the IPO playbook with a large retail portion in the offering.
The meeting brought together the full syndicate for the first time as part of the process for what is expected to be the biggest initial public offering ever as the rocket maker seeks to raise $75 billion, valuing SpaceX at as much as $1.75 trillion, Reuters has previously reported.
The company plans to launch its roadshow the week of June 8, when executives and bankers will pitch the IPO to investors, the people said. About 125 financial analysts from the 21 banks on the deal are scheduled to meet with the company the day before, they added.
On June 11, SpaceX plans to host 1,500 retail investors at what the people described as a major investor event. In addition to the U.S., everyday retail investors in the UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Japan and Korea would have the opportunity to participate in the offering, the people added.
One of SpaceX's lead underwriters told the group of 21 investment banks the retail demand and allocation will be something they've "never seen before," the two people said.
The structure of the deal and precise amount of the retail allocation are expected to be finalized closer to the IPO launch, they said.
Reuters previously reported that founder Elon Musk wanted to set aside up to 30% of the company's shares for smaller investors, compared with 5% to 10% for most companies.
The company plans to make its IPO prospectus public in late May, they said.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Echo Wang in New YorkWriting by Dawn Kopecki; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
