SK Hynix advisors win big fee windfall after modest SpaceX payday

Global investment banks and brokerages leading SK Hynix's mega share sale earned nearly US$260 million (HK$2.028 trillion) in fees, a boost for the industry which took in a relatively modest US$500 million from SpaceX's record share sale last month.

The fees equate to about 0.97 percent of the total amount raised, SK Hynix's filings showed, meaning bankers earned more as a percentage of deal size than those who worked on SpaceX's initial public offering.

SpaceX bankers earned 0.67 percent or US$500 million of the US$75 billion in an IPO which eclipsed the previous record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019, as well as SK Hynix's U.S. listing this week.

Citigroup earned over US$70 million from the SK Hynix sale, which was 20 percent more than other banks on the deal, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified when discussing confidential information.

Citigroup was a joint global co-ordinator and the depository bank on the deal. The bank declined to comment on fees earned.

Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were also global co-ordinators.

JPMorgan declined to comment. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs did not respond to requests for comment.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix raised about US$26.5 billion after pricing its U.S. stock at US$149 per depository receipt, a 2.7 percent premium over its average share price in Seoul over the past three days.

Reuters

𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓