Mirae Asset apologises to investors over failure to get SpaceX IPO allocation (updated)

JPMorgan Chase & Co

Today 02:58

Adds Morgan Stanley declined to comment, in paragraph 7

    SEOUL, June 15 (Reuters) - South Korea's Mirae Asset Securities 006800.KS apologised to investors on Monday for failing to secure an allocation of SpaceX SPCX.O shares in the U.S. company’s record-setting IPO, adding it would consider financial compensation for those affected.
In a letter to clients reviewed by Reuters, Mirae Asset Securities co-CEOs Kim Mi-seob and Heo Sun-ho said that despite being qualified to offer SpaceX shares to Korean investors, the brokerage, one of the underwriters for the SpaceX IPO, was ultimately left out of the final allocation by the U.S. lead underwriter.
On Friday, SpaceX's stock market debut sent the company's value past $2 trillion, turning founder Elon Musk into the world's first trillionaire. 
Earlier this month, the brokerage collected orders worth $500 million from investors hoping to participate in the SpaceX IPO. The offering's two tranches sold out within a few minutes, according to a person familiar with the matter.
"We made every effort until the very end to secure an allocation of shares. However, due to the discretionary final decision made by the lead underwriter in the United States, no shares were ultimately allocated to us," according to the letter. It said it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the decision. 
"We are deeply disappointed and sincerely sorry to all customers who placed their trust in Mirae Asset Securities and participated in this offering."
The letter did not disclose the identity of the lead underwriter. Banks involved in the SpaceX IPO, including Bank of America BAC.N and JPMorgan Chase JPM.N, did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of Asian working hours, while Goldman Sachs GS.N, Morgan Stanley MS.N and Citigroup C.N declined to comment.
Investors who exchanged their funds into U.S. dollars to pay for the subscription deposits still had to cover foreign exchange fees and absorb the impact of recent exchange rate fluctuations, according to the Korea Economic Daily TV.
On June 8, South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service launched an inspection into Mirae Asset over investor protection measures, including whether the brokerage sufficiently informed investors about the risk of the allocation falling through, an official at the regulator said on Tuesday, declining to be identified due to the confidentiality of the matter.
Mirae declined to comment.  

 (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin, Yantoultra Ngui and Jihoon Lee; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 ((hyunjoo.jin@thomsonreuters.com; 82-2-3704-5685; Reuters Messaging: hyunjoo.jin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))