The Bankers Behind SpaceX’s “Project Apex” IPO

The weeks leading up to SpaceX’s initial public offering will test big ideas about the space industry and the future of artificial intelligence. It will also answer a more basic question: how well Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs can work together.

The Wall Street rivals’ top bankers have been holed up at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters in recent weeks alongside the rocketship company’s finance executives, people familiar with the matter said. The high-stakes assignment for “Project Apex,” the internal name for the IPO, has fallen to bankers such as Morgan Stanley’s Michael Grimes and Kate Claassen, as well as Goldman Sachs’ Kim Posnett and Kay Lee.