Anthropic plans to sell up to $3.5 billion in shares to Japanese investors before IPO

Anthropic, the developer of AI models Claude, plans to sell up to $3.5 billion worth of shares to Japanese investors as part of its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) in the US. According to a Japanese regulatory document dated November 2, the Japanese portion will amount to 552.9 billion yen. Japanese investors will be able to participate directly in the American IPO.

The Japanese portion is managed by broker Mizuho Securities. American investment bank Goldman Sachs and Japanese Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities will assist in processing applications, and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities is also involved. The underwriting syndicate includes Japanese financial groups Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

The funds are planned to be directed towards working capital, operating expenses, and capital investments. The final size of the offering, share price, and company valuation are not disclosed in the document. Anthropic filed for an IPO with US regulators on October 26, with the listing planned on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT.

In addition to Japan, investors from Australia, Canada, and several European countries will be able to participate, as this is related to the preparation for a possible listing in November. According to Reuters, some investors discussed a valuation of around $1.5 trillion, but the document from November 2 does not confirm these expectations and does not establish final terms.

Context

The Japanese IPO market is experiencing a downturn: the number of new listings is at a 14-year low. During SpaceX's June IPO, Japanese investors received shares worth approximately $2.2 billion as part of a global sale of $75 billion. Anthropic is raising funds for computing resources and Claude models; prior to the IPO, the company conducted a $63 billion chip financing deal called Project North Star. Investment firm Blackstone warned about Anthropic's potential credit rating: it expects BB – below investment grade. Against this backdrop, Meta plans to raise up to $95 billion through a stock offering, and Alphabet is considering up to $85 billion. The Japanese document does not specify the date from which investors can purchase shares.