$75 billion! SpaceX may set a fundraising record. A quick infographic of the world's top 10 IPOs.

The listing moves of SpaceX, owned by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, have attracted the attention of global investors.

According to recent reports from U.S. media, SpaceX plans to submit its initial public offering prospectus to regulators later this week or next week, aiming for a listing in June. Earlier this month, sources revealed that SpaceX prefers to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange and that one of its core conditions is to be “included in the Nasdaq-100 index as soon as possible after listing.”

This IPO is expected to become the largest IPO in history, with its scale far exceeding previous ones—advisors involved in the preparations estimate that the company may aim to raise over $75 billion in the IPO, significantly higher than the previously estimated $50 billion, setting a new record for IPO fundraising.

Data shows that the previous largest IPO was that of Saudi Aramco, which listed in December 2019. The company issued 3 billion shares at a price of 32 riyals ($8.53) on the Saudi Stock Exchange, raising $25.6 billion. By exercising the overallotment option based on this, the final public offering reached 3.45 billion shares, with total fundraising expanding to a record $29.4 billion.

The overallotment option, also known as the green shoe mechanism, is a right granted to underwriters by the issuer under the underwriting agreement, allowing the underwriters to sell up to 15% more shares than the issuance amount at the same offering price.

The second largest IPO in history was Alibaba, which went public in September 2014 on the U.S. stock market. The company issued 320 million shares at a price of $68 on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $21.76 billion. Due to strong investor demand, underwriters exercised the overallotment option, bringing the total fundraising for this IPO to $25 billion.

Third is SoftBank Group’s telecommunications subsidiary, SoftBank Corp. In December 2018, SoftBank Corp. listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, with an offering price set at 1,500 yen per share, and exercised an overallotment of 160 million shares to meet strong demand, raising a total of 2.65 trillion yen, or $23.5 billion.

In addition, General Motors, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and AIA also had IPO fundraising totals exceeding $20 billion.

(Source: Dongfang Caifu Research Center)