The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is entering a week that pits a decades-old tradition of rising payouts against the most high-stakes period in its private-equity strategy. The board confirmed that the total dividend will climb 4.3% to 4.57 pence per share, marking the 43rd consecutive annual increase. The final tranche of 2.97 pence goes ex-dividend on 11 June, with payment on 10 July. Yet for all the comfort of that unbroken record, the market’s attention has shifted to the IPOs that could reshape the trust’s portfolio – and its valuation.
SpaceX Prices Its Blockbuster Listing
The rocket company that dwarfs all of Scottish Mortgage’s other private holdings is days away from its Nasdaq debut. An amended SEC prospectus filed on 6 June pegged the offering price at $135 per share, implying a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion. A total of 556.6 million Class A shares are on offer, with the final price set for 11 June and trading expected to begin the following day. Scottish Mortgage’s stake, which stood at 19.3% of the portfolio as of 31 March 2024 and is estimated at around 18% now, will be subject to a standard lock-up period, preventing an immediate exit.
Anthropic Follows Close Behind
Hot on SpaceX’s heels is Anthropic, the artificial-intelligence developer behind the Claude model. The company closed a $65 billion Series H financing round on 28 May at a post-money valuation of $965 billion. For May 2024 it reported an annualised revenue run rate of over $47 billion. On 1 June Anthropic confidentially submitted an S-1 registration statement to the SEC – the first formal step toward its own IPO. Scottish Mortgage has not disclosed its exact stake, but Anthropic is understood to be the second-largest private holding.
A Cautionary Tale from the Swiss
Just as the trust’s two biggest private bets prepare to go public, the broader private-markets sector has flashed a warning. Partners Group, the Swiss private-equity giant, imposed a “redemption gate” on its $8.6 billion Global Value SICAV on 3 June after second-quarter redemption requests hit around 9.8% of net asset value, nearly double the usual quarterly cap of 5%. The move, meant to avoid fire sales of illiquid assets, sent Partners Group’s own stock sliding. For Scottish Mortgage, which holds a heavy allocation to unlisted companies, the episode underlines the liquidity risk that critics have long flagged.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Scottish Mortgage Investment?
From Buyback to Share Sale
After months of buying back its own stock, Scottish Mortgage has flipped into issuance mode. In two consecutive sessions the trust sold shares from treasury at a premium to net asset value – 2.35 million shares at 1,516.50 pence on 1 June, followed by 3.85 million at 1,545.42 pence the next day. The NAV at that point stood at 1,409.70 pence. The proceeds are intended to provide additional firepower for private investments as SpaceX and Anthropic near their listings, increasing the pressure on the balance sheet. The share price reacted with a sharp pullback.
AGM Vote Could Unlock More Private Capacity
Shareholders will be asked to vote on 2 July on raising the cap on private investments from the current 30% of total assets. The trust wants the flexibility to commit an additional £250 million into private companies, arguing that late-stage funding rounds are attractive but time-sensitive. The actual private allocation has already swelled well above the formal limit, making the vote a test of governance. A successful IPO for SpaceX would vindicate the strategy, but the moment of maximum transparency arrives just as the stock is under pressure.
Performance in Perspective
For the financial year to March 2026, the NAV rose 27.4% and the share price 26.8%, both handily beating the FTSE All-World Index’s 18% return. Gearing edged lower to roughly 11%, with the cost of debt at about 3.6%. The share price has since pulled back to €17.10, down 3.88% on the day and 5.39% on the week, though still up 23.11% year to date. At that level it is 12.31% below the 52-week high of €19.50 touched in May.
The core risk remains the overwhelming dependence on a single unlisted name. A SpaceX listing would bring daily mark-to-market pricing to a holding that has been the trust’s jewel and its biggest source of opacity. For Scottish Mortgage, the week ahead is not just about the dividend record or the IPO price process – it is about whether the private-market bet that has defined the fund’s recent history finally pays off, or whether the liquidity fears that hit Partners Group will also come knocking.
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