Ahead of the highly anticipated IPO, Anthropic PBC is expected to increase its revolving credit facility above its roughly $10 billion target, sources close to the development informed Bloomberg. Talks are still underway, and the company could ultimately keep the credit line at around $10 billion or even set it below that target.
The proposed expansion of its so-called revolver is drawing the attention of several banks that are hoping to win roles in Anthropic’s IPO, the people said.
The development comes weeks after banks led by Morgan Stanley were in talks to line up $15 billion in debt financing for an Anthropic data-centre project in Texas, backed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Bloomberg News reported. That package for data-centre developer Nexus Data Centres would consist of a $14 billion bridge loan and a revolving credit facility, according to people familiar with the matter.
Anthropic is working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan on the IPO.
Anthropic has asked the most active banks leading the credit line to lend about $1.25 billion, with the next level of active banks encouraged to offer around $1 billion, and with commitments dropping to roughly $750 million or lower for less active roles, sources claimed.
Generally, in syndicated loans, the greater a bank’s commitment, the higher the fees it receives from the borrower. When a large capital market transaction is expected, a higher loan ranking is likely to correspond to a more active role in the upcoming deal.
Anthropic declined to comment on the matter.
SpaceX sets precedent
The AI developer’s race to go public gives it an opportunity to follow the lead of companies like SpaceX, which expanded its revolving credit facility to $5 billion in May from an earlier $1.5 billion, the prospectus showed, just a month before its record-breaking IPO. The bank lineup for that offering was substantially the same as that for the IPO.
A $10 billion-plus revolving credit line would be a substantial increase over a $2.5 billion five-year facility Anthropic secured last year, with participation from Morgan Stanley, Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Royal Bank of Canada and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, according to a LinkedIn post at the time.
Anthropic vs OpenAI IPO
The AI race has fired up the IPO market, with listings this year raising $257 billion, excluding blank-check firms and other financial vehicles, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the most raised in a year since 2021, the data show.
Anthropic and its rival OpenAI have filed confidential paperwork to go public, with Anthropic expected to make its Wall Street debut as soon as this fall, ahead of OpenAI.
Bank of America Corp. extended a $520 million credit line to OpenAI earlier this summer as it joined an existing undrawn facility set up by competitors, Bloomberg News reported, boosting OpenAI’s available capital to more than $5 billion.
Anthropic’s run rate, a metric that projects full-year revenue from a shorter period, hit $65 billion by the end of July, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. The dramatic acceleration in revenue bolsters Anthropic’s plans for a public listing.
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