Mirae Asset Securities said a recent Bloomberg report that there were missed subscription orders during the SpaceX initial public offering (IPO) book-building was "groundless" and called it a "malicious article."
On the 30th, Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reported that behind Mirae Asset Securities not receiving an allocation of SpaceX IPO shares, there was a misunderstanding about the order submission method during the IPO process known as Project Apex.
Bloomberg wrote that "Mirae Asset Securities made the mistake of confusing the initial request to gauge investors' interest with the stage of submitting actual binding orders."
In response, Mirae Asset Securities said, "The alleged misunderstanding or communication error by Mirae Asset Securities mentioned in the article is not true at all."
Mirae Asset Securities explained, "On May 21, we were included in the final underwriting syndicate and have proceeded with SpaceX IPO-related work normally under communication with the lead managers, and the securities registration statement (S-1) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also clearly stated that in Korea the subscription would be conducted via a private placement method."
It added, "In early June, following the procedures guided by the lead managers, we applied, through the system indicated by the lead manager, the $1.14 billion raised from investors in Korea through a subscription process premised on a private placement method during the June 5–10 period," and "we even received official confirmation from the lead manager that provided the guidance."
In particular, regarding Bloomberg's report that when the underwriting group sent an email in mid-May asking the syndicate to indicate investor demand, Mirae Asset Securities believed the response to that request meant orders had already been placed and therefore did not separately submit actual orders in June, it explained that this was "clearly different from the facts."
It added that "in May, even the demand survey under the above procedure had not yet begun."
Mirae Asset Securities said that, given the nature of a global IPO, it fully recognizes that the final allocation authority for the offering rests with the lead manager group, but added, "However, we cannot overlook articles that defame our company based on unidentified sources claiming that orders were not submitted due to Mirae Asset Securities' communication error."