By Echo Wang and Anirban Sen
NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's rocket and satellite maker SpaceX is planning to price its blockbuster initial public offering as early as June 11 and has picked Nasdaq as its listing venue, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
SpaceX, which is set to trade under the ticker 'SPCX', has accelerated its IPO timeline and is now aiming to flip its prospectus public as early as next Wednesday, with a roadshow launch targeted for June 4 and a market
debut as early as June 12, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The new plan to IPO during the second week of June represents a quicker-than-expected timeline for SpaceX's offering, pulling forward a process that had initially been targeted for late June — around the time of Musk's birthday — the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are private.
A faster-than-expected review of the company's IPO paperwork by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was partially responsible for the company's move to bring forward the listing timeline, the sources added.
SPCX was previously the ticker for Tuttle Capital Management's SPAC-focused ETF before the firm switched to the SPCK ticker in April. The move at the time triggered speculation about SpaceX potentially choosing the newly available ticker.
Reuters was first to report in March that SpaceX was leaning toward listing its shares on Nasdaq, as it sought early inclusion on the Nasdaq 100 index.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nasdaq declined to comment. The SEC was not immediately available for comment.
MARQUEE OFFERING
Nasdaq recently rolled out highly anticipated 'fast entry' rules to speed up the entry of newly listed large-cap companies to its benchmark Nasdaq-100 index. Other leading index operators have also launched similar rules to fast-track new listings to their respective benchmarks.
The push towards faster entry to top indexes comes as richly valued startups like Anthropic and OpenAI prepare to go public. Exchange operators are seeking to turbocharge the pipeline of IPOs amid concerns over a rapidly shrinking number of publicly listed companies in the U.S.
SpaceX is likely to target a raise of about $75 billion at a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion, which would make it the biggest stock market flotation of all time, Reuters has previously reported. The $1.75 trillion target represents a significant step up from the $1.25 trillion combined valuation set when SpaceX merged with Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI in February.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs are the lead bookrunners for the offering, with 16 other banks in smaller roles spanning institutional, retail and international channels.
(Reporting by Echo Wang and Anirban Sen in New York; Editing by Megan Davies, Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O'Brien)
