Blackstone expects a BB rating for Anthropic after its IPO

According to the Financial Times, Blackstone now expects Anthropic to receive a credit rating in the high speculative-grade range, likely BB, after its IPO. The investment firm had previously expected the company to reach investment grade. The change is Blackstone’s forecast, not a downgrade by a rating agency; Anthropic received a BB+ rating from KBRA in June, according to the British newspaper. Ratings below investment grade can make financing more expensive and restrict some institutional investors, according to explanations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and S&P Global.

Anthropic filed its prospectus with the SEC on October 26 to list shares on Nasdaq under the ANT symbol, but had not yet set the number of shares or the price. In a deal announced with Bank of America, Citi and Morgan Stanley, Blackstone is participating in a $63 billion financing package for Broadcom equipment that will be leased to Anthropic.