Anthropic has signalled it will make shares available to Australian retail investors as part of its initial public offering, once it submits a prospectus to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, according to a filing with US regulators.
People familiar with the matter expect the float could value Anthropic between US$1.4 trillion and US$1.75 trillion (about AU$2 trillion to AU$2.5 trillion), with the final number of shares on offer to be revealed in a later filing.
The offering will give Australians a direct way to invest in Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, and will provide exposure to the country’s $4.8 trillion superannuation industry as well as a retail base that has had few opportunities to buy into a major AI company.
Sentiment in the local market remains fragile after the collapse of Firmus’s planned IPO, which faltered when expected international demand failed to appear. That failure dealt a blow to appetite for large domestic listings.
“Many Australian investors will be keen to participate in Anthropic’s IPO,”
“Anthropic is a very different proposition to Firmus. Anthropic is selling a product that customers are already paying for and only increasing their spending on.”
Anthropic’s prospectus makes clear that professional and sophisticated investors can take part in the US offering without waiting for an Australian filing. The prospectus defines a sophisticated individual as someone with net assets of at least $2.5 million or gross income of at least $250,000 a year.
The company has appointed 22 underwriters for the deal, and people briefed on the matter expect Macquarie’s capital-raising arm to lead the local tranche while CommSec will manage retail marketing.
The local retail channel has been a powerful source of demand this year: SpaceX’s Australian retail sale drew strong interest, with CommSec reporting it received more than 28,000 applications, although not all applicants were allocated shares.
“Anthropic’s offering should draw strong local interest after years of the biggest names in AI growing behind closed doors,”
Analysts say Anthropic represents direct exposure to a frontier model maker, in contrast with companies that have pitched heavily debt-funded expansion stories. The precise mix of institutional and retail demand in Australia will depend on the size of the local tranche and how advisers and brokers allocate stock.
Anthropic’s filing confirms the Australian retail offer will proceed only after the local prospectus is submitted; the number of shares earmarked for Australian investors will be disclosed in a subsequent document filed with regulators.
