Canadian investor access to Anthropic’s mega IPO likely more limited than SpaceX’s offering

Résumé détaillé

Company’s lead underwriters are keeping final share allocations close to their vests, sources say

Canadian investors hoping to get a piece of Anthropic PBC’s initial public offering will need a little luck, with American underwriters controlling the deal’s order book and final share allocations out of New York.

Unlike SpaceX’s IPO in June, which was designed to sell shares across multiple markets and to allocate a sizable block of stock to retail investors, Anthropic’s lead underwriters are keeping final decisions close to their vests, according to three sources familiar with the offerings.

While it is possible that Canadian investors will get access to Anthropic shares – particularly large institutional investors such as insurers and pension funds – the amounts allocated to investors of all stripes will ultimately depend on total demand, the sources said. In other words, it’s more of a traditional wait-and-see approach.

The Globe and Mail is not naming the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the transaction.

Opinion: Will the Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs follow SpaceX in upending the underwriting market?

For a hot IPO that has orders for far more shares than the company plans to sell, the banks tend to allocate shares to the clients that pay the most and with which they have deep relationships. That means hedge funds and pension plans that pay significant commissions to dealers for trades and research are likely to get their orders filled first, while retail investors may only get a small fraction of the shares they requested.

Anthropic started marketing its IPO this week, with hopes of raising as much as US$90-billion. Three Canadian investment banks are serving as underwriters: Royal Bank of Canada, BMO Nesbitt Burns and TD Securities. That means these banks will earn a fee – still to be disclosed – and their clients are likely to have a greater chance of getting access to some shares.

Anthropic has also filed the regulatory paperwork to sell shares to retail investors in Canada beyond these three banks, and some shares may be available to…

Début de l'article, extrait de The Globe and Mail (Report on Business). Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.