By Tatiana Bautzer
NEW YORK, June 4 (Reuters) – Wall Street banks are competing to offer special events for wealthy clients trying to get a piece of the SpaceX IPO, with Bank of America and JPMorgan hosting splashy events ahead of its launch next week and some bank CEOs involved in the action.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX blockbuster IPO next week has rippled through Wall Street banks, investors and the financial industry that all want a slice of the action. The IPO aims to raise $75 billion, valuing the company at $1.75 trillion.
Bank of America, which is leading the retail distribution effort in the U.S., will host on Thursday an event for its wealth management clients, while it has decked its headquarters in midtown Manhattan’s Bryant Park with SpaceX images throughout the lobby, a source familiar with the matter said. On Thursday evening the bank will light the building’s spire to make it look like a rocket ship taking off.
Bank of America’s event will be headed by Co-President Jim DeMare speaking with SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell and CFO Bret Johnsen about the upcoming SpaceX IPO.
A similar event will be headed by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon on Thursday with the same SpaceX executives. More than 2,500 clients are expected to attend in what will be the first such event for the bank at this scale.
More than 5,000 clients across its private bank and Merrill Lynch have been invited to market launch parties being hosted by the bank and streamed to offices across the U.S. as part of the Merrill presence.
Morgan Stanley will have its event for wealth management clients on Monday and invited its top financial advisors to hear from SpaceX executives. The event will be hosted by Jed Finn, head of wealth management, and Kate Claassen, the lead banker in the IPO.
(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Nupur Anand, Additional reporting by Akash Sriram; Editing by Megan Davies, Dawn Kopecki and Andrea Ricci )
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