Russian broker opens access to SpaceX pre-IPO
A Russian broker has opened access to SpaceX's pre-IPO. As Vedomosti reported, starting October 2, Finam allowed qualified investors to make transactions with the assets of the American corporation. At the same time, there is no order book as such; the broker’s clients have the opportunity to purchase a stake in SpaceX on the secondary market. Previously, Finam bought it from a large foreign investment fund, its name was not disclosed.
How risky can such a mechanism be called? “Kommersant FM” discussed this issue with the partner of the NSP law office, Alexander Nektorov: “To understand how risky this mechanism is, you need to understand the details, these little things are very important in this case. How do they plan to formalize this legally, what infrastructure risks will clients have in connection with this. Obviously, if a Western counterparty sees somewhere that there are Russian investors, then there is a fairly high risk of applying various restrictive measures, all of which can significantly complicate the further disposal of assets.
One can only imagine what it will look like. Perhaps this is some kind of calculated forward contract, that in fact the investor does not acquire the asset itself, but only enters into an agreement, the settlements of which are tied to the price of this asset. Maybe they formed a fund under foreign law, to which they added this SpaceX, and then they resell shares of this fund to Russian investors.
I think that in any case, the Central Bank will not be too happy, that is, it will see risks in this.
In fact, in the current realities, such stories of entering a foreign market, if they are offered, should be offered to clients in an extremely targeted and individualized manner, without widespread advertising.”
SpaceX offered securities on the secondary market in January and December 2023. The cost of one such share is now about $135. At the same time, Finam set the minimum investment amount at $10 thousand. The exact timing of the IPO of the American corporation is still unknown. Analysts expect it to take place no later than 2028. However, the managing director of the investment company Ivolga Capital, Dmitry Alexandrov, does not yet advise investing in the asset: “Despite the fact that participation in an IPO or pre-IPO, or in the placement of bonds is positioned, in fact, as a rule, the end investor buys some kind of it is a structural product.
This, for example, was the case with Telegram Eurobonds, when Russian investors did not buy the bonds themselves, but some receipts for these bonds with a not very clear and transparent registration of rights. I suspect that in this case the scheme is most likely also complex, and this in itself adds risks, even if we forget about the infrastructural difficulties between the United States and Russia.
The history of SpaceX itself is a fairly easily sold product, and, of course, there is hype around the company’s founder, Elon Musk, and investments in space in general, but such pre-IPOs can be very unsuccessful. We have repeatedly seen expensive startups that later lost their value to zero. As an example, we can recall the startup Arrival, which was founded by immigrants from Russia in the United States, and as a result was popular among wealthy Russian investors, but, unfortunately, after conducting rounds and receiving extremely high capitalization, the startup was unable to fulfill its promises and found itself financially devastated not very successful.
Therefore, this is a rather dangerous investment, and you definitely need to allocate to it that part of the portfolio that you don’t mind losing.”
Elon Musk's projects have potential for growth, but at the same time they carry significant risks, analysts say. At the same time, the businessman has a bad relationship with the Democrats, so if they win, SpaceX will lose state support.
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