Freshfields advises SpaceX on European offering as part of its landmark IPO

Freshfields has advised Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) as European lead counsel on the European offering forming part of its global initial public offering of shares of Class A common stock – the largest IPO in history.

Freshfields’ advice to SpaceX covered the full scope of the European offering, including structuring of the offer, preparation and approval process of the EU securities prospectus, passporting of the prospectus across relevant EEA jurisdictions and other execution aspects.

The European offering was made on the basis of a securities prospectus approved by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) for use in Germany and passported to Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. The prospectus was also being used to facilitate a public offering in Switzerland.

SpaceX’s global offering comprised 555.5 million shares, resulting in a global offer size of $75bn and valuing the company at $1.75tn. The shares of Class A common stock have been listed on Nasdaq.

The SpaceX prospectus is the first equity prospectus approved by Bafin under the new Level 1 rules of the EU Listing Act that entered into force on the day of approval of the SpaceX prospectus, 5 June 2025.

The Freshfields team consisted of:

Lead: Partners Christoph Gleske and Daniel von Bülow (both Capital Markets, Frankfurt)

Partners: Sebastian Röger (Tax, Frankfurt), Guillemette Burgala (Corporate/Capital Markets), Thomas Metayer (Tax, both Paris)

Counsel: Peter Stark (Tax, Frankfurt), Valentine Pouyet (Corporate/Capital Markets, Paris)

Principal Associates: John Sichelschmidt, John Haviland (both Capital Markets, Frankfurt), Kanitha Neal (Corporate/Capital Markets, Paris), Victoria Hrubesch-Bazil (Capital Markets, Vienna)

Associates: Vincent Buchta (Frankfurt), Enzo Paganetti (both Capital Markets, London), Riet Devriendt (Corporate/Capital Markets, Brussels), Filippo Sciarrone (Finance/Capital Markets, Milan), Geoffroy Coinchelin (Tax, Paris)

A team from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, led by Hillary Holmes, Harrison Tucker and Atma Kabad is serving as lead counsel to SpaceX on its global offering.