Anthropic's Japan tranche could raise $3.5bn ahead of its US listing

Anthropic could raise up to 552.9 billion yen, about $3.5 billion, from Japanese investors as part of its planned US listing. A Japanese filing reported by Reuters shows the amount, converted at 157.82 yen to the dollar. The final figure will not be known until the shares are priced.

Mizuho Securities will manage the Japan portion. Goldman Sachs, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities are among the firms taking subscriptions. Anthropic said the proceeds will fund working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditure. The Japan tranche was disclosed in Anthropic's S-1, which Reuters reports was filed with the SEC on 26 October.

Investors in Australia, Canada, parts of Europe, Switzerland and the UK can also take part. Anthropic reportedly plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT". The filing does not give the offering size or valuation. Some investors have discussed a valuation near $1.5 trillion, according to Reuters, while other reports cite $1.8 trillion to $2 trillion.

Japanese demand is a useful precedent. Japanese investors took $2.2 billion of SpaceX's $75 billion IPO in June, so a $3.5 billion Japan tranche would be a larger slice of a deal than that one.

A sizeable Japan tranche gives Anthropic a broader base of institutional buyers before its debut and reduces dependence on US demand alone. Mizuho and the Morgan Stanley group are the banks to watch, because their pricing and allocation decisions will set the final Japan figure. Investors should watch the price range and the valuation in the next filing, since the yen amount is only a ceiling until then.