Mirae Asset Says Lead Underwriter Confirmed $1.14 Billion SpaceX IPO Orders

Q: Why was South Korea's entire SpaceX IPO share allocation canceled just hours before trading began?

South Korea’s entire SpaceX IPO allocation was canceled because the lead underwriter, Goldman Sachs, determined that Mirae Asset Securities had not submitted valid final orders into the book, even though Mirae says it followed the instructions it was given and received confirmation of its submissions. At the center of the dispute is a breakdown over what counted as a binding order. Bloomberg reported that Mirae treated an early request from the syndicate as an order submission, while the Wall Street banks viewed it only as an indication of interest and expected a later, separate final order. That meant the Korean demand — about $1.14 billion, according to Mirae — was effectively not recognized in the final allocation process. Because the IPO was heavily oversubscribed, that procedural mismatch had immediate consequences. Goldman canceled the Korean allocation of about 2.31 million shares, worth roughly $500 million at the $135 IPO price, on June 11, just hours before SpaceX began trading on June 12. In a deal of that size and demand, underwriters had broad discretion to reallocate shares elsewhere. Mirae rejects the idea that it failed to place orders properly, saying it acted according to the lead underwriter’s instructions and had formal confirmation. That dispute is now central to a South Korean regulatory inspection, which is examining whether the failure stemmed from miscommunication, order-handling errors, or shortcomings in investor protection and disclosure.

3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jul 2

Mirae Asset said it submitted $1.14 billion in SpaceX IPO investor orders on June 10 and received formal confirmation from a lead underwriter.
The South Korean brokerage said all work tied to the offering was handled in coordination with the deal’s lead underwriters, directly challenging a Bloomberg News report published June 30.
The statement came in a strongly worded email from Mirae, South Korea’s biggest brokerage, underscoring its push to defend its role in the high-profile IPO process.