Blackstone tells investors Anthropic may not secure an investment-grade credit rating, even after its planned November listing

Blackstone has told investors that Anthropic may not secure an investment-grade credit rating after its initial public offering¹.

Anthropic is unlikely to secure an investment-grade rating even immediately after the IPO, according to one account of the assessment². That account referred to the key credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch².

A portfolio manager who mainly invests in US tech stocks was quoted on the rating question². The assessment concerns Anthropic’s debt, where seniority matters to institutional investors¹.

Anthropic intends to go public during the week of 16 November⁴. The company released its IPO prospectus days before Microsoft, Google and Amazon reported quarterly results that added to market turbulence³.

Why it matters to investors

A credit rating determines which institutions can hold a company’s debt and on what terms. Institutional investors covet senior debt because it takes priority over junior loans in the case of a default¹.

The assessment separates the equity story from the credit story. An IPO raises equity, but by the assessment’s account it would not by itself lift Anthropic’s debt to investment grade^1,2.

The listing itself has grown harder. Anthropic’s path to the Nasdaq became bumpier after the quarterly results from Microsoft, Google and Amazon³.

The prospectus was highly anticipated, and its release was quickly followed by results from three of the largest technology companies that unsettled the market³.

Views on the offering are divided. Despite the volatility, money managers interviewed in one report said they were confident that Anthropic can stage a successful IPO⁵. Another assessment asked whether a $100bn Anthropic IPO is a warning sign for investors, noting that today’s market “puts a lot of eggs in a limited number of baskets”⁶.

Anthropic’s chief rival, OpenAI, will likely go public in 2027, according to one analysis⁴. SpaceX, Anthropic and possibly OpenAI are among the large listings investors are weighing⁶.

What to watch

The first marker is the listing schedule, with the IPO planned for the week of 16 November⁴.

A second is any rating decision by Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s or Fitch on Anthropic after the listing^1,2.

A third is whether the market turbulence that followed the hyperscaler results persists into the offering window^3,5.

A fourth is whether the money managers who expressed confidence in a successful IPO hold that view through the volatility⁵.