Trillion-dollar IPO financing landscape targets the globe! Anthropic (ANT.US) plans to raise up to US$3.5 billion in Japan.

Anthropic (ANT.US) plans to raise US$3 billion to US$3.5 billion from Japanese investors in its initial public offering (IPO). The frontier AI lab has maintained its Japan fundraising target at this level after formally launching IPO marketing efforts. In a filing with Japan's Ministry of Finance, Anthropic said it plans to sell 38.5 million to 50 million shares to Japanese investors at an indicative price of US$70 to US$78 per share. Earlier this month, the company said it planned to raise up to US$3.5 billion. The offering will make Japan one of the few markets allowing investors to participate directly in this mega-IPO (alongside Australia, Canada and some European countries), while also providing much-needed support to Japan's equity capital market. Anthropic's Japan offering is a so-called "public offering without listing," one of the cases in which large IPOs tap Japan's cash-rich household investors for funding. Japanese households hold financial assets worth JPY2,400 trillion. Such deals also help Mizuho Financial Group Inc Sponsored ADR enhance its market influence as a coordinator of large transactions. According to regulatory filings, Mizuho Securities will manage the Japanese portion of Anthropic's offering. The filings also said Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, Rakuten Group and SBI Holdings will also participate in handling investor subscription orders. On November 10 local time, Anthropic launched its IPO roadshow, planning to issue 825 million shares at a price range of US$70 to US$78 per share, raising up to approximately US$64.4 billion. The company also plans to raise about US$26 billion through private placements to cornerstone investors including Alphabet Inc. Class C, NVIDIA Corporation and AMD. Based on the roadshow documents and outstanding shares, Anthropic's corresponding IPO valuation ceiling is approximately US$1.02 trillion; on a fully diluted basis, the valuation ceiling is approximately US$1.4 trillion, a marked decline from the US$2 trillion the market had once expected this year. At present, Anthropic's pricing is not fully finalized. According to market sources, Anthropic's underwriters are preparing to raise the IPO valuation to US$1.5 trillion or even higher, meaning the US$70-78 offering range announced yesterday is not yet the final price. Meanwhile, market participants said Anthropic currently prioritizes raising sufficient capital over maximizing its IPO valuation, because the company will need large-scale investment in computing infrastructure in the futureof its approximately US$900 billion in signed purchase and lease commitments, about US$451.6 billion is expected to be incurred before the end of 2030.