Monks and HarbourVest Global Private Equity remind investors they also hitched a ride on $2.3trn SpaceX.

Monks (MNKS), a £2.4bn investor in global equities, and HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) are bidding for attention as two of the just seven UK investment trusts that invested in SpaceX before its record $1.77trn (£1.3trn) flotation on Friday. 

Last Thursday, a day before SpaceX shares began trading in New York at $135 (£100), Monks held 2%, or £50.4m, of its portfolio in Elon Musk’s pioneering space technology to artificial intelligence group. 

HarbourVest Global Private Equity, a £2.4bn investor in leading private equity fund managers through its Boston-based parent HarbourVest Partners, held just 0.7% where it was worth around $29.4m (£21.9m) based on 30 April data.

Although these positions are dwarfed by four other Baillie Gifford trusts – Scottish Mortgage (SMT), Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI), Baillie Gifford US Growth (USA) and Schiehallion (MNTN) – like them, they have also experienced impressive rates of growth. 

Monks, for example, has seen its £3m investment in SpaceX soar the equivalent of 17 times to £50.4m in the past seven years. It holds the company indirectly through a 5.8% stake in Schiellallion, a £1bn private equity stablemate in which it first invested in 2019 and is currently its second biggest holding. 

It also holds SpaceX directly through shares bought by Baillie Gifford in the annual tender offers that have enabled Musk’s employees to sell their shares when the company was unlisted.

Stellar returns

This compares to the 25 times return achieved by Scottish Mortgage, Baillie Gifford’s £16.2bn flagship that overshadows Monks in the AIC Global sector. SMT, which has made 114% for shareholders in the past three years compared to 62% from Monks, was the first of the group’s closed-end funds to back SpaceX. It invested just over £151m in 2018, a stake that was valued at nearly £3.8bn when Musk’s company completed its initial public offer (IPO) on Friday. The day before the listing on 12 June, SpaceX accounted for 22% of its assets, an out-sized position that it will likely seek to reduce when lock-in restrictions expire. 

Edinburgh Worldwide, a £972m global equities trust where activist hedge fund Saba Capital has recently taken control, had 23% invested in SpaceX. Its £9.1m investment rose 25 times to just over £222m, Baillie Gifford said.

Baillie Gifford US Growth held 17% in SpaceX, a position worth £163.3m on 11 June after a £5.9m investment multiplied 28 times.

Schiehallion scored a 26 times return on its $11.3m investment which stood at $294.2m (£219m) last Thursday, accounting for 14% of its portfolio. 

The surge in SpaceX from $800bn in December has required these trusts to make three statements notifying shareholders of significant rises in the value of their holding.

James Budden, head of global marketing at Baillie Gifford, said: “SpaceX is a powerful example of Baillie Gifford’s long-term approach in action: identifying exceptional growth companies early, supporting them while they are still private, and staying patient as their opportunities develop. Its IPO is an important milestone for shareholders in the investment trusts we manage and demonstrates how access to outstanding private growth companies can create significant long-term value for investors.”

HarbourVest owned since 2009

HarbourVest did not disclose its figures but could have enjoyed even better underlying returns given its investment in SpaceX dated back to 2009, seven years after SpaceX’s launch and a year after a $1.6bn NASA contract saved the company from bankruptcy and it was reportedly valued at $546m. 

HVPE holds its stake through US venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. It has also bought secondary share sales by SpaceX employees.

HVPE managing director Richard Hickman said: “As a fund of funds, HVPE provides diversified access to private markets that would typically be unavailable to individual investors, alongside the advantages of a listed structure, including daily liquidity. This creates a more accessible route into venture investing as part of a broader portfolio.”

In the past five years HVPE has generated a 63% total shareholder return, in line with the average of the five private equity fund of funds listed in London. However, with the shares trading 23% below the value of its investments, HVPE is under pressure from activist investors to do more to improve performance. Ahead of its first continuation vote next month, it has offered to hold a $400m (£296m) tender offer later this year to return the proceeds of a recent sale of fund stakes to shareholders. 

Pre-flotation stake vital

RIT Capital Partners (RCP) is the seventh investment trust holding SpaceX. The £3.2bn Rothschild family-backed fund invested in 2024 and 2025. At the end of last year SpaceX represented 2.5% of assets, its largest direct private equity holding. However, this was based on the previous $800bn valuation that has since risen to $2.3trn following SpaceX’s 19% leap on its first day of trading on Friday followed by a further 7% rise to $173 today. RCP will review SpaceX and the rest of the portfolio for its next half-year valuation at 30 June.

Maggie Fanari, chief executive of RCP’s fund manager JRCM, said: “SpaceX is one of a growing number of private companies which have stayed outside public markets for longer, with considerable value growth occurring earlier in its life cycle. Our relationships allow us to invest at the early compounding phases, giving shareholders access to businesses that could become ‘Magnificent Seven’ equivalents in the private markets before most investors can participate.”

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