Australians are being offered the chance to invest in what could be the world’s biggest share deal ever, although the offer from artificial intelligence innovator Anthropic comes with big caveats.
Local buyers have less than a week to get their orders in ahead of the Claude chatbot maker’s listing on the US tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange on November 20, according to a prospectus filed with the Australian corporate overseer.
The San Francisco-based Anthropic is making 825 million shares available globally to investors at a price between $US70 and $US78 ($A101 and $A113) per share.
The Australian portion has not been set and will be determined in consultation with the local underwriters, depending on demand.
The offer opens on Wednesday and will close at the end of business on November 17.
“Investing in our shares involved a high degree of risk,” Anthropic said in its prospectus.
“The market price of our shares may be volatile and you may lose all or part of your investment.
“We strongly recommend you seek the advice of an appropriately qualified financial or other professional advisor before applying for shares.”
Commonwealth Bank’s CommSec unit has been chosen as the lead Australian broker for the domestic retail offer.
Seven other Australian brokers and selling agents are expected to participate: Bell Potter, LGT Wealth, Macquarie, Morgans, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Sharesies and Stake.
Assuming a $US74 ($A107) mid-point, Anthropic could raise around $US84.6 billion ($A122.5 billion), taking its valuation to a massive $US1.3 trillion ($A1.9 trillion).
The final price will be settled on November 19, with a settlement date of November 21.
Anthropic is on track to the biggest initial public offering ever, if it eclipses the record $US86 billion ($A125 billion) raised by Elon Musk’s SpaceX under its offer in June.
“A company founded in 2021, which only began selling Claude in 2023, would be worth almost as much as everything listed on the ASX put together,” Morningstar senior market strategist Lochlan Halloway said in a recent report.
“Sticker shock is a natural reaction.”
Set up by former OpenAI leaders, Anthropic reported nearly $US17 billion ($A25 billion) in revenue in the September quarter, an almost 12-fold jump from the same period a year ago.
Despite bringing in so much money, Anthropic spent even more, turning an operating loss of $US567 million ($A821 million) and a net loss of $US23.3 billion ($A33.7 billion), mostly related to non-cash accounting charges.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
