Analysis of Baillie Gifford’s four flagship investment trusts found that the Edinburgh-headquartered asset manager could book an average return of 18 times its initial investment, should SpaceX achieve its rumoured $1.75 trillion (£1.3 trillion) IPO valuation, City AM reports.

The firm submitted confidential paperwork to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this month and is currently sounding out potential investors ahead of a market launch later this year, with Musk hoping to raise roughly $75bn (c. £56bn) to fund an ambitious rocket programme and space-based artificial intelligence ventures.

Baillie Gifford’s fund managers were among SpaceX’s earliest institutional backers, first taking a stake in 2018 when the company was valued at just $31bn (c. £23bn). The total value of the firm’s holdings across its trusts is now estimated at £3.9bn based on recent London Stock Exchange filings.

The lion’s share of that gain is set to flow through Scottish Mortgage, the UK’s largest investment trust, which holds over 20% of its portfolio in Musk’s space firm. Its stake, originally acquired for around $200 million (c. £150m), is expected to be worth £3bn at the point of listing.

The forthcoming flotation will also deliver meaningful gains for Baillie Gifford’s smaller vehicles. Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust is on course for a 21.9 times return, with its stake growing from an initial £8.5m to an estimated £186m, whilst USA Growth Trust’s holding is set to rise from £6.5m to £125m. Both trusts, alongside the FTSE 250-listed Schiehallion fund, trimmed some of their SpaceX exposure during a funding round late last year to reduce portfolio concentration.