Scottish Mortgage's SpaceX Bet Delivers Record Returns as IPO Nears – But Governance Skeptics Circle
01.06.2026 - 01:03:50 | boerse-global.de
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust has just wrapped up one of its strongest years on record, propelled by a single holding that now accounts for more than a fifth of its entire portfolio. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s privately held rocket and satellite venture, delivered the largest single contribution to the trust's annual performance – and its long-anticipated public listing is now just days away.
For the financial year ended 31 March 2026, Scottish Mortgage posted a net asset value total return of 27.4%, while its share price climbed 26.8%. Both figures handily beat the FTSE All-World Index, which rose 18.0% over the same period. The shares have added roughly 30% since the start of the calendar year and have more than halved the distance from their November 2025 trough.
At the heart of that outperformance sits SpaceX, which accounts for over 19% of the portfolio. The company has filed its IPO prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and is targeting a debut on 12 June 2026. The offering is expected to value the business at between $1.75 trillion and $1.8 trillion, with the potential to raise as much as $75 billion in what could become one of the largest initial public offerings in history. For Scottish Mortgage, a successful listing would finally attach a market price to what has long been a hard-to-value private holding – and could reshape the debate around the trust's persistent discount to net asset value.
The competitive landscape has only reinforced SpaceX’s pole position. On 28 May 2026, a New Glenn rocket from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin exploded during an engine test at Cape Canaveral, dealing a fresh blow to that company’s already delayed launch schedule. The accident will push back planned satellite deployments and the Blue Moon lander missions contracted by NASA. That in turn deepens the space agency’s reliance on SpaceX’s Starship for the Artemis III mission slated for 2027 – a development that underscores the strategic weight of Scottish Mortgage’s largest bet.
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Yet for all its operational momentum, SpaceX is not without controversy on the governance front. The Danish pension fund AkademikerPension, which manages $25 billion in assets, has placed the IPO on its exclusion list, citing “catastrophic governance structures” tied to Musk’s expected voting control of roughly 80% of the shares. US institutional investors including CalPERS and the New York State Pension Fund have also voiced reservations. The clash between market dominance and governance skepticism presents an unusual tension as the listing approaches.
Back at Scottish Mortgage, the trust’s own governance has been moving in a different direction. Shareholders approved a policy change in April 2026 that frees up to £250 million for new private company investments, even when the private holdings slice already exceeds 30% of total assets. The authorization requires annual renewal. Meanwhile, the trust extended its dividend growth streak to 43 consecutive years, raising the full-year payout by 4.3% to 4.57 pence per share. The final dividend of 2.97 pence will be paid on 10 July 2026, with an ex-dividend date of 11 June.
Shortly after the year-end, Scottish Mortgage also issued 1.15 million shares from treasury at 1,502 pence each – a price representing a premium to net asset value. The transaction reflects the renewed demand for the trust’s shares, which closed at €18.07 on Friday, up 1.92% on the day. That leaves the stock about 4% below its 52-week high of €18.85, but comfortably above its 50-day moving average of €16.16. Ongoing costs remain low at around 0.33%.
The broader market environment has been tailing the trust as well. Global equity funds attracted net inflows of $457.57 million in the week to 27 May 2026, reversing the previous week’s $6.56 billion outflow, and the MSCI World index hit an all-time high of 1,129.06 points on 30 May. For a growth-oriented vehicle like Scottish Mortgage, the sustained rally in technology and artificial intelligence names provides a supportive backdrop – but the next catalyst is purely binary. With the SpaceX IPO set for 12 June, the trust’s biggest private holding is about to become a very public number.
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