Anthropic Pursues $10 Billion Credit Facility Ahead of IPO

Securing Liquidity Ahead of IPO
Banks Compete for Lead Underwriter Role with Increased Lending
New Facility Targeted at Over Four Times Previous $2.5 Billion Credit Line

AI startup Anthropic is seeking to secure a revolving credit facility exceeding $10 billion as it prepares for its initial public offering (IPO). Global banks, hoping to assume the role of lead underwriter for the anticipated large-scale IPO, are expanding their lending participation, making it increasingly likely that the final amount will surpass the original target.

On August 18 (local time), Bloomberg reported, citing multiple sources, that the revolving credit facility Anthropic is pursuing is expected to exceed the initial target of approximately $10 billion. However, it also noted that Anthropic might ultimately cap the credit facility at or below the target amount.

A revolving credit facility allows a company to borrow and repay funds as needed, up to a pre-set limit. Anthropic is reportedly asking the most active participating banks to commit about $1.25 billion each for this loan, while the next tier of banks is being asked to commit approximately $1 billion, and banks with lower participation may be asked to take on commitments of $750 million or less.

Banks’ eagerness to participate in the lending process is primarily driven by Anthropic's forthcoming IPO. In syndicated loans, the larger the commitment amount, the higher the fees earned by participating banks. For companies preparing for large capital market transactions, a higher rank within a lending consortium can also improve the chances of being selected as a lead underwriter for the IPO.

If the new credit facility surpasses $10 billion, it will exceed more than four times the size of the $2.5 billion, five-year loan secured last year. At that time, participants included Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).

In recent years, major technology companies have increasingly lined up massive credit facilities with banks ahead of going public. SpaceX, for example, increased its revolving credit facility from $1.5 billion to $5 billion in May and then launched its IPO a month later. Notably, much of the list of participating banks in the loan overlapped with the IPO underwriters.

Anthropic’s large-scale fund-raising aligns with expanded investment in AI infrastructure. Recently, a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley has discussed arranging $15 billion in debt financing for Anthropic’s Texas data center project. This Google-backed financing package is reportedly structured as around $14 billion in bridge loans and a revolving credit facility.

Anthropic is aiming to go public ahead of OpenAI. Both companies have confidentially filed IPO-related documents, and Anthropic could be listed as early as this fall.

Rapid revenue growth is also fueling excitement about Anthropic’s IPO. As of the end of July, the company’s annualized revenue run rate surpassed $6.5 billion. The annualized revenue run rate is a metric that projects recent revenue trends over a 12-month period.

Anthropic’s most recent quarterly preliminary revenue exceeded $1.15 billion. This marks more than a fourteenfold surge compared to $78.7 million in the same period last year. The company is also reported to have posted a positive adjusted operating profit for that quarter.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.