Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has been selected as the primary legal adviser to SpaceX as the company pursues what could become the largest initial public offering in history.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has committed $25.5 million in legal costs as it moves forward with outside counsel at Gibson Dunn on the landmark deal.
The firm has assembled a team of more than 60 attorneys spanning multiple practice areas to handle the complexity of the offering.
Those practice areas include capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, Texas corporate law, securities regulation, aerospace, employee compensation, environmental, antitrust, and international law.
Leading the Gibson Dunn team are capital markets partners Hillary Holmes, Harrison Tucker, and Atma Kabad, all based in the firm’s Houston office.
New York-based George Sampas, the co-chair of the firm’s mergers and acquisitions practice group and head of cross-border M&A, is also working on the deal alongside the Houston team.
Davis Polk & Wardwell is separately advising the underwriting banks on the transaction, with Goldman Sachs securing the coveted lead underwriter role.
SpaceX is eyeing a potential valuation of $2 trillion, a figure that would dwarf previous landmark listings and cement the deal as a defining moment in capital markets history.
One notable absence from SpaceX’s securities filings is any named general counsel or chief legal officer within the company’s senior leadership structure.
The omission is unusual for a company of this scale and profile, and raises questions about how SpaceX’s internal legal function is structured ahead of such a significant public market debut.
The IPO would surpass prior records and represents a major mandate win for Gibson Dunn, reinforcing the firm’s position as a leading adviser on transformational transactions in the technology and aerospace sectors.