24 Jul 2026
SpaceX’s IPO and the future of investing – in conversations with Winterflood | The Marex Market Pulse podcast
In this special episode of Marex Market Pulse, Joe Winkley, Head of Corporate Services, and Sophia Bechev, Head of WRAP Execution, join host Verity Viola-Heir, Senior Marketing & Communications Manager to discuss how Winterflood, a division of Marex, helped bring this landmark transaction to UK retail investors.
Powered by WRAP and the POP regime
Globally, retail demand for SpaceX reached approximately $100 billion, with over 100,000 UK investors seeking to take part, the strongest retail interest seen since Royal Mail.
Marex acted as the UK’s Public Offer Platform (POP) operator for the deal, the first time this regime had been used for an international IPO, diligencing SpaceX independently and producing a UK-specific disclosure document for retail investors.
Behind the scenes, the Winterflood Retail Access Platform (WRAP) aggregated demand from UK intermediaries including Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Investor and AJ Bell, feeding a single order into the main SpaceX book. WRAP then allocated shares across nearly 120,000 investor accounts in under 30 seconds.
What comes next
Winkley and Bechev see SpaceX as a potential template for future global listings, and are exploring extending WRAP beyond the UK, drawing on Marex’s international network. WRAP is already active in fixed income, supporting 20 UK gilt transactions, with corporate bonds seen as a natural next step.
With fewer than 8% of UK individuals currently holding equities, compared with over 30% in the US, both see substantial untapped potential for retail participation in UK capital markets.
Watch the full conversation above for more on how the transaction came together.
To learn more about WRAP, contact Joe Winkley, Head of Corporate Services at Winterflood.
