Scottish Mortgage surpasses private limit after SpaceX revision

The trust's exposure to private assets has surpassed the 30% 'limit', barring its managers from making new unlisted investments for now.

Scottish Mortgage (SMT) has surpassed its private asset limit of 30%, with unlisted companies now making up 35.2% of the £13bn portfolio.

The global investment trust crossed the threshold after a massive re-rating in its top holding SpaceX in December, which saw its estimated value double. A tender offer from Elon Musk’s private rocket company that month – which valued it at $800bn – saw SpaceX’s position in the trust leap from 8.2% to 15.3%.

Scottish Mortgage’s private company exposure was bordering the self-imposed limit at 29% in November but was pushed beyond the threshold as of the end of 2025, according to its latest factsheet. 

The 30% cap is designed to ensure the trust is not overly exposed to liquidity risk, with private assets being famously difficult to sell quickly. While it bars the trust from making further private deals for the time being, including follow-on investments in existing holdings, the policy does not force managers Tom Slater and Lawrence Burns to sell down unlisted assets. 

Former director Amar Bhidé resigned from the board in 2023 having clashed with his colleagues and managers at Baillie Gifford over his concerns about SMT’s high private exposure. A public dispute over the ensuing months saw then-chair Fiona McBain step down later that year.

However, previous instances of the trust exceeding 30% in private assets in 2022 and 2023 were largely driven by a slump for its public holdings in a tough performance period. By contrast, the SpaceX revaluation has been part of a performance revival, with SMT shares now having beaten global markets for two years on the trot. 

Neither Scottish Mortgage – nor any of the other three Baillie Gifford trusts with exposure to SpaceX – have said whether they plan to trim their newly bolstered exposure to the company, but they may not need to wait long for the situation to change. 

Elon Musk is rumoured to be planning on listing SpaceX this year, targeting a starting price of $1.5tn. If this is the case, then Scottish Mortgage’s excessive private exposure may solve itself.

Many of the private companies it has invested in in the past have eventually gone public and remain in the portfolio, such as Spotify, Wise and Tempus AI.

Getting exposure to high growth companies so early in their cycle has been a huge benefit, with stablemate Edinburgh Worldwide (EWI) recently boasting that SpaceX has returned 947% for them since first investing in 2018 – around the same time as SMT.

Alternatively, SpaceX only offers a handful of exit opportunities a year, so SMT may be waiting for the next liquidity event to bank some profits.