Scottish Mortgage’s Premium Share Issuance Accelerates as SpaceX Nears Landmark IPO

After years of aggressive buybacks, Scottish Mortgage is now issuing shares above NAV as SpaceX's potential $2 trillion IPO drives investor demand.

The tide has turned at Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust. After years of aggressive buybacks aimed at narrowing a stubborn discount to net asset value, the trust is now doing the reverse – tapping investor demand by issuing shares from its own treasury at a premium. The driver is no secret: a roughly $2 trillion IPO valuation for SpaceX, its largest unlisted holding.

On 26 May 2026, Scottish Mortgage sold 1.25 million ordinary shares from treasury for cash at 1,520.00 pence each. That price comfortably topped the estimated net asset value of around 1,409.66 pence, meaning the trust is now trading above its NAV – a powerful signal for existing shareholders. The latest placement follows two earlier tranches this month: 2.4 million shares at 1,466.46 pence on 20 May, and 2.25 million shares at 1,496.62 pence on 22 May. After the transactions, the trust retains 378,364,074 treasury shares, while the number of outstanding shares ex-treasury stands at 1,106,416,806.

The shift is dramatic. Throughout 2024 and 2025, the board committed at least £1 billion to buybacks in an effort to prop up the share price. Now the market is paying a premium for access to the trust’s private equity exposure, led by SpaceX. As of late March 2026, the space exploration company represented 19.3% of the portfolio, split across multiple share classes – including Series J Preferred (8.34%), Series N Preferred (6.70%) and Class A Common (3.27%).

SpaceX is targeting a Nasdaq listing on 12 June 2026, with a mooted valuation between $1.75 trillion and $2.0 trillion. Part of the plan includes a $75 billion capital raise, needed because Starlink, though growing rapidly, is cash-intensive. For the 2025 fiscal year, SpaceX is expected to post a loss of $4.94 billion. In March 2026, the company secured a $20 billion bridge loan. Some of that capital also flowed into ecosystem investments such as xAI and X, whose AI division posted a $6.35 billion loss in 2025.

Technical progress is underpinning the valuation thesis. On 26 May, SpaceX completed its twelfth test flight of the Starship system, flying the new V3 stack for the first time. The vehicle demonstrated faster refuelling, stronger acceleration and reached maximum aerodynamic stress earlier than its predecessors. A Super Heavy booster suffered an engine anomaly during ascent, but the Starship carried out a successful re-entry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean without the hull or flap damage seen on earlier prototypes. The mission validated a payload capacity of 100 tonnes – a crucial step for SpaceX’s operational credibility.

Beyond SpaceX, Scottish Mortgage also holds stakes in Anthropic and other private growth names. Shareholders recently approved a change in investment policy, creating a £250 million buffer that allows managers Tom Slater and Lawrence Burns to hold unlisted investments even if the stake exceeds the traditional 30% cap.

In euros, the trust’s share price closed at 17.89 on 26 May, up 28.83% year-to-date. The multi-month high of 18.85 remains within reach. Technical indicators suggest the rally is not yet overheated: the relative strength index sits at 40.6, while the distance to the 50-day moving average is 12.54%. That leaves room for further upside – especially if each new valuation of SpaceX feeds directly into the trust’s net asset value as the IPO date approaches.

The key question for Scottish Mortgage is whether it can sustain the premium. So long as demand for its private-equity-linked shares holds and SpaceX delivers on its IPO timeline, the trust’s shift from buybacks to issuance looks like a well-timed reversal. With daily placements now taking place above portfolio value, the capital base is strengthening while investors bet on one of the most anticipated listings in history.