- Anthropic has tapped JPMorgan Chase to lead US sales of shares to individual investors in its potentially record-setting IPO, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is expected to take part in the bank’s campaign.
- The Claude maker has weighed a retail offering of about 15% to 20% of the shares available in the IPO. JPMorgan is coordinating outreach on the IPO to high-net-worth investors, private banking clients and broker platforms, while Citigroup is set to coordinate the international retail offering.
- JPMorgan is reprising its role from SpaceX’s $86.2 billion IPO, which drew more than $100 billion of demand from individual investors, or about 1.16 times the deal size (Lumida calculation). Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading Anthropic’s overall offering.
- Investors are telling bankers that their estimate of fair value has shifted to around $1.4 trillion to $1.5 trillion, though a valuation closer to $1.75 trillion is potentially achievable, Bloomberg has reported. The IPO also includes offerings in Australia, Canada, Japan, certain European Economic Area countries, Switzerland and the UK.
What Happened?
Anthropic filed publicly on Monday for an IPO in which the company and some of its investors would sell shares, the first listing by a company focused mainly on developing the most advanced AI models. The choice of JPMorgan for the US retail tranche follows the bank’s role gathering retail orders for SpaceX. Deliberations are ongoing and details, including the share set aside for retail, could change. Representatives for Anthropic, JPMorgan and Citigroup declined to comment.
Why It Matters?
A 15% to 20% retail allocation would be a large slice for individual investors in what could be one of the biggest IPOs ever, and it reflects the retail demand already shown in the SpaceX deal. Bringing in individual investors broadens the buyer base for a very large offering at a time when AI companies are raising tens of billions of dollars at once, including Meta’s plan to raise as much as $98 billion in equity and Alphabet’s $85 billion equity fundraising earlier this year.
What’s Next?
Investors will watch for the final retail allocation, price range and timing as the roadshow takes shape. The valuation debate between roughly $1.4 trillion and $1.75 trillion will be central to how much demand the offering draws. Anthropic and rival OpenAI are also facing growing public scrutiny over AI safety after a string of high-profile hacking incidents by rogue agents, which could shape how the risks are presented to retail buyers.
Affected Tickers and Coins: JPM, C, GS, MS, META, GOOGL
Source: Bloomberg
