Equity Capital Markets

Weekly Top Ten Equity Capital Markets – May 31, 2026

This weekly newsletter pulls together summaries of the top ten most-read Insights across Equity Capital Markets on Smartkarma.

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1. SpaceX IPO Valuation Analysis

By Douglas Kim, Douglas Research Advisory

  • SpaceX is preparing to raise at least $75 billion at a valuation of nearly $1.75 trillion to $2.0 trillion. 
  • My base case valuation of SpaceX is market cap of $1.6 trillion over one year. My valuation sensitivity analysis suggests a valuation range from $1.3 trillion to $1.9 trillion. 
  • I would not subscribe to SpaceX at a valuation range of $1.75 trillion to $2.0 trillion. Rather, you could purchase Samsung Electronics (005930 KS) at a P/E of 7x, instead.

2. 2025/2026 HK IPO: Cornerstone Investors That Matter

By Ke Yan, CFA, FRM, DZT Research

  • We study 139 HK listings since 2025 and collected performance data for cornerstone investors, covering both raw cornerstone names and mapped investor entities where available.
  • We identify repeat cornerstone investors and sponsors with stronger post-listing track records, focusing on 2W return distribution, dollar-weighted return, deal count, and downside range.
  • We further examine investor-sponsor relationships, using both raw co-participation counts and sponsor-adjusted intensity to highlight cornerstone investors and sponsor pairings worth following.

3. [Japan Offering] Rigaku (268A) PE Firm Cleanup Selldown Smaller Than Expected 3mos Ago

By Travis Lundy, Quiddity Advisors

  • On 21 April, Rigaku Holdings (268A JP) announced a business/capital alliance with larger US SPE metrology firm Onto Innovations. For that, Carlyle sold 27% of their 42% holding to Onto.
  • That left 15% to sell to clean up. Shorts are large-ish. The sale price to Onto was well below. An offering should have been imminent. It was.
  • On 22 May, they announced a cleanup sale. Rigaku has a big market share in x-ray and growing presence in the booming SPE metrology space. But it’s not cheap.

4. HK IPO Essential Statistics: Quantifying Lock-Up Expiry Overhang

By Ke Yan, CFA, FRM, DZT Research

  • We studied 43 HK IPO cornerstone deals from the Jan to Nov 2025 listing cohort to measure price action around the IPO+6M lock-up expiry.
  • We note that selling pressure from cornerstone selling overhang is deal-size dependent.
  • Sponsor mix further refines the screen. Pure international-sponsored deals underperformed other cohorts.

5. Aequitas: SpaceX IPO- A Lighthearted Take on Some of the Claims – Grok Speaks the Truth on Valuation

By Sumeet Singh, Aequitas Research

  • SpaceX (SPCX US), an Elon Musk led Space to AI company, aims to raise around US$75bn in its US IPO.
  • SpaceX is set to be the largest IPO ever. It will also probably end up being one of the most controversial ones given the asking valuations and other worldly promises.
  • We will undertake our more serious analysis in the coming days. This note is a lighthearted look at some of the other worldly claims and Grok’s view on SpaceX valuation.

6. Aequitas: GO Inc Pre-IPO – Thoughts on Valuations

By Sumeet Singh, Aequitas Research

  • GO (581A JP) a leading taxi app in Japan, aims to raise around US$550m via a secondary selldown in its Japan IPO.
  • GO combines app-based taxi hailing with in-taxi technology to meet the needs of both users and partner taxi operators through services such as ride matching, payment processing and advertising.
  • We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier notes. In this note, we talk about valuations.

7. Aequitas: SpaceX IPO – Space – The Breakthrough Segment but with Low/No Growth

By Sumeet Singh, Aequitas Research

  • SpaceX (SPCX US), an Elon Musk led Space to AI company, aims to raise around US$75bn in its US IPO.
  • SpaceX is set to be the largest IPO ever. It will also probably end up being one of the most controversial ones given the asking valuations and other worldly promises.
  • In this note, we talk about the company background and its ground breaking space segment.

8. Aequitas: GO Inc Pre-IPO – Listed and Unlisted Peer Comparison

By Sumeet Singh, Aequitas Research

  • GO (581A JP) a leading taxi app in Japan, aims to raise around US$550m via a secondary selldown in its Japan IPO.
  • GO combines app-based taxi hailing with in-taxi technology to meet the needs of both users and partner taxi operators through services such as ride matching, payment processing and advertising.
  • We have looked at the company’s past performance in our earlier notes. In this note, we will undertake a peer comparison.

9. Aequitas ECM Weekly (25 May 2026)-SK Hynix, Kokusai, Hulic, GO, Human Made, Powerchip, Quanta, Dajin

By Sumeet Singh, Aequitas Research

  • Aequitas Research’s weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.
  • On the IPO front, we had a look at the probable US$10-15bn ADR issuance by SK Hynix (000660 KS) 
  • There were a number of placements over the past week and we also had a look at some of the planned GDR offerings. 

10. Aequitas: CIG Shanghai Placement – Raising Seems Very Opportunistic but Recent Momentum Is Strong

By Akshat Shah, Aequitas Research

  • CIG Shanghai (6166 HK) is looking to raise around US$200m from a primary share placement.
  • CIG Shanghai Ltd is a provider of critical infrastructure components for the development of AI. Its portfolio includes high-speed optical transceivers, wireless and broadband access, carrier Ethernet, and edge computing.
  • In this note we talk about the deal dynamics and run the deal through our ECM framework.