Market News – 8 June 2026

Johnny Lee writes:

SpaceX

This week will see the introduction of the world’s largest ever IPO, with capital markets anticipating the imminent listing of SpaceX on the Nasdaq exchange. It will carry the symbol SPCX and is expected to begin trading on the 12th (Saturday 13th NZ time).

SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 and focuses on three aspects – spaceflight, telecommunications and artificial intelligence.

In New Zealand, SpaceX is perhaps best known for its Starlink service, which provides internet access via satellite. This service has proven popular for those living outside the traditional fibre optic cable network, and those whose travels take them to such areas. Both One NZ and Spark utilise this network, as do various high-profile corporates like Air New Zealand.

SpaceX produced around $19 billion USD in revenue last year but reported a $4.9 billion loss. The SpaceX IPO is seeking a valuation of around $1.75 trillion, raising $75 billion in exchange for approximately 4% of the company.

Following the sale, Musk would retain a holding of nearly half the company, although he would control 82% of the voting rights. This is done by issuing so-called “Super-voting” shares, which entitles the shareholder – Musk – to additional voting rights above and beyond ordinary shares. Accordingly, investors will need confidence in Musk's vision for the company before investing.

The largest IPO ever launched (prior to SpaceX) was listed in 2019, when Saudi Aramco – the Saudi Arabian oil and gas company majority owned by the Saudi Arabian Government – sold 1.5% of the company for $25 billion.

The size of the SpaceX offer, and the history of the company’s co-founder, have led to inevitable scrutiny from capital markets. Morningstar, the American independent research house, publicly stated its opinion that SpaceX was worth nearer $780 billion – a huge sum – but less than half the figure sought.

The company’s actual value will be determined by markets upon listing on the 12th, based on buyers and sellers trading shares on market.

Much of the excitement surrounding the company is based on investor enthusiasm regarding the future ambitions of the company, which include “data centres in space” and “asteroid mining”. While some will dismiss these ideas as far-fetched, others will view these as challenges to be solved and with significant financial payoffs, should they find success.

Musk’s involvement has also generated interest, both due to his status and the performance of his earlier investments.

Tesla, another company co-founded by Musk, has performed extremely well since listing in 2010. Tesla listed in 2010 at a price of $17 per share, and has undergone two stock splits – a 5 for 1 split in 2020, and a 3 for 1 split in 2022. This $1.13 adjusted price compares to a current price of nearer $420. Put another way, if one had bought $10,000 of Tesla when it first listed, this person would now own over $3 million of the same company.

This is not to say that SpaceX will follow a similar path. However, Tesla’s share price success has cultivated something of a following, particularly among young technology enthusiasts.

Should the IPO proceed as expected, Saturday promises to be an exciting day for capital markets, and could help shape expectations for a flurry of major new listings expected in 2026. 

SpaceX is not the only IPO currently navigating US capital markets. Anthropic, which owns the popular Claude AI language model, and OpenAI, which owns the even more popular ChatGPT language model, are both exploring the possibility of listing shares via IPO at near trillion-dollar valuations. 

It was only 8 years ago that Apple became the first trillion-dollar company. In 2018, Apple produced profits of $60 billion on revenues of $265 billion. OpenAI, by comparison, loses billions and has revenues in the tens of billions, not hundreds of billions.

Nevertheless, the excitement surrounding Artificial Intelligence - and the infrastructure that supports it - is palpable and leading to far more dramatic valuation multiples than we have seen previously.

The large valuations have also led to discussion around the role of Exchange Traded Funds in supporting these values.

The sheer size of these IPOs will mean US-focused ETFs, like those owned by the popular USG and USF listed on the NZX, will eventually include the companies within their portfolios, should valuations proceed as anticipated.

This has led to some observers highlighting an inherent flaw in the nature of ETFs, specifically that passive funds will be “forced” to buy (and hold) shares in the company, particularly as more shares are floated and the float-adjusted capitalisation of the company grows.

This is simply the reality of investing with ETFs. These are largely rule-based investments, and if a fund promises exposure to the largest US companies, this will see it acquire companies that fall within this mandate. Even actively managed US funds will likely carry some exposure, so as to derisk portfolios should the company outperform.

This has led to a subset of ETFs that exclude certain companies or industries. Even in Australia, there are products now that exclude the mining and financial sectors, offering choice to investors, whether their objections are moral or economic.

Those with an interest in the long-term future of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI may soon find all three included within the major US ETFs, as the initial investors in these technologies begin selling down and inviting public investment into the sector.

Exchange Traded Funds

More ETFs are listed each day.

Even in New Zealand, two new ETFs are coming to market this month, both focused on the Chinese market. The ETFs are being introduced by Smart, the division of NZX responsible for listed ETFs.

Smart has previously listed funds across international markets, including the US, Japan, Europe and Emerging Markets. These two will mark the first specific to China. While the likes of Marlin offers exposure to China, these two new ETFs will offer a passive and more diverse option.

The two funds are a China 300 ETF, and a China Science and Technology ETF.

The China 300 includes companies like BYD and CATL, the world's largest producers of electric vehicles and electric vehicle batteries. Major Chinese technology companies include Lenovo, Xiaomi, Alibaba and Tencent. The exact make-up of the fund will be announced shortly.

Both new ETFs are targeting a listing date in late June and will be tradeable on the exchange in the same way as existing funds.

Infratil Bond Issue

Infratil has announced a subordinated capital bond issue. The offer is for a 31-year bond, first redeemable after six years. Like the other similar capital bonds on our exchange (such as CEN090), the bond will be priced assuming it will mature after six years on the initial optional redemption date.

The bonds will also be listed on the NZX, allowing investors to exit the investment whenever they would like.

Infratil is to raise $150 million, with the option to accept unlimited oversubscriptions. The bond will carry an investment grade credit rating of BBB-, two notches below Infratil’s own rating (BBB+). This discrepancy is to account for the subordinated nature of the capital bond.

These bonds will carry an interest rate of 5.50%.

Investors wishing for a FIRM allocation should contact us as soon as possible with their CSN and amount they wish to invest.

Ryman Bond Offer

Ryman Healthcare is also offering a 6-year fixed-rate, senior, secured bonds.

The interest rate will be at least 5.60% per annum, fixed for the full 6-year term.

Ryman is also paying the transaction costs, meaning clients will not pay brokerage. 

Ryman is New Zealand’s largest retirement living and aged care provider, with 47 retirement villages across New Zealand and Australia. It provides homes to more than 15,500 residents and employs around 7,800 staff.

Ryman has been through a major business reset over the past two years. Its latest result showed a meaningful improvement, including its first positive free cash flow result in more than a decade, with revenue increasing to $849 million.

The company has also reduced its debt level to 27.8% (which is the lowest in the sector), has no bank debt maturing until FY31, and is continuing to release cash from asset and land sales. Ryman has indicated that its focus is now on improving aged care earnings, reducing vacant stock, lowering capital expenditure, and strengthening cash flow from its existing villages.

In our view, Ryman is now in a much better position than it was two years ago. The company has moved away from its previous high-growth development model and is now focused on cash flow, debt reduction, and disciplined capital management.

Investors wishing for a FIRM allocation should contact us as soon as possible with their CSN and amount they wish to invest.

Paraparaumu Seminar

The first of our seminars this year will be held at Southwards, Paraparaumu on July 7. Please contact us via email if you would like to attend.

New Financial Advisor Position

We are currently looking to add an experienced Financial Adviser to the Chris Lee & Partners team.

This is a long-term role based in Paraparaumu, working closely with our long-standing clients throughout New Zealand.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact us confidentially at office@chrislee.co.nz

Travel

24 June – Lower Hutt – David Colman

26 June – Napier – Edward Lee

30 June – Christchurch – Chris Lee (FULL)

1 July – Christchurch – Chris Lee (FULL)

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