As the listing of U.S. space company SpaceX, the largest initial public offering (IPO) on the horizon, approaches, investor funds have poured into related exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Yet asset managers have repeatedly changed their inclusion schedules and plans for disclosing investment results, deepening confusion.
According to the financial investment industry Wednesday, Mirae Asset Global Investments withdrew its plan to add SpaceX to the "TIGER U.S. Space Tech ETF" on the day of the listing, reverting to its existing method of inclusion two trading days after listing (T+2). The firm had earlier considered applying "fast entry," an early inclusion system for newly listed stocks, based on the closing price on the SpaceX listing date (D+0), which falls on Wednesday U.S. local time. However, the related notice was deleted about an hour after it was posted.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) was found to have intervened in this matter. Under its existing index methodology, TIGER U.S. Space Tech is designed to reflect newly listed stocks in the index after a certain period following their listing. However, Mirae Asset Global Investments had been pursuing a plan to adjust the rebalancing cycle ahead of the SpaceX listing to include the stock from the day of listing. Some interpret this as a case in which financial authorities applied the brakes after questions were raised over investor guidance related to the change in the index inclusion schedule and the legitimacy of the related procedures.
Korea Investment Management, which on the 4th of this month became the first domestic asset manager to announce participation in the IPO, also revised its plans. The firm had originally planned to disclose Wednesday the volume of SpaceX IPO shares allocated to the "ACE U.S. Space Tech Active ETF" and the actual scale of inclusion, but postponed the schedule, citing the disclosure procedures of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). "We had originally planned to disclose the SpaceX IPO allocation volume and inclusion details, but we received guidance that the announcement could only be made after the U.S. SEC disclosure," a Korea Investment Management official said. "We adjusted the disclosure schedule to comply with the relevant legal procedures."
Amid expectations for the SpaceX listing, funds flowed rapidly into the two products. Over the past week, retail investors bought 131.8 billion won and 75.9 billion won worth of TIGER U.S. Space Tech and ACE U.S. Space Tech Active, respectively, the two largest domestic space-themed ETFs. After the asset managers drew in retail demand through aggressive marketing, the successive changes to inclusion schedules and information disclosure plans deepened investor confusion.
Meanwhile, Hanmi Semiconductor disclosed that it will acquire 50 billion won worth of SpaceX shares and equity securities through on-market purchases on the 16th. The amount corresponds to 7.24% of its equity capital of 690.3 billion won. Hanmi Semiconductor explained the purpose of the investment as "an investment in the future growth potential of Elon Musk's Terafab and SpaceX, driven by an explosion in demand for artificial intelligence (AI), satellite communications, aerospace, and advanced semiconductors."
