Retail buyers face slim Anthropic IPO allocations

Anthropic is setting aside more of its initial public offering for individual investors than most large listings do. Demand is so far ahead of supply, though, that most retail buyers who ask for shares are likely to get only a fraction of their request, or nothing. The company expects up to 20% of the 825 million shares on offer to go to retail investors in the U.S. and abroad, according to its amended prospectus. That compares with the 5% to 10% that individuals usually receive, CNBC reported. Orders have reached about six times the shares available, and bankers have told prospective investors that existing backers will get priority, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, Nov. 12.cnbc.com+2

Anthropic plans to price the deal on Wednesday, Nov. 18, and begin trading on the Nasdaq ↗ 0.18% under the ticker "ANT" on Thursday, Nov. 19, Yahoo Finance reported. The price range of $70 to $78 a share would raise up to $64.4 billion, according to Fortune.fortune.com+1

How shares reach individuals

Retail shares will be sold through Charles Schwab The Charles Schwab Corporation ↗ 0.74%, Fidelity, Robinhood ↘ 3.52% and its TradePMR unit, SoFi ↘ 0.45% and E*Trade, which is owned by Morgan Stanley ↗ 0.38%, the filing shows. Schwab customers need at least $50,000 in assets with the firm to request shares, and Fidelity customers need $25,000, Business Insider reported. Analysts told the outlet that brokers may favor wealthier clients and those with bigger balances.stocktitan.net+1

Brokers usually split shares pro rata, in fixed amounts or by lottery. Investors should be ready to buy every share they request, and allocations are confirmed on the first trading day, investingLive noted. Fidelity reportedly warns customers that selling IPO shares within 15 days can limit their access to future deals. "If customer demand is higher than our supply, we can't fulfill every request in full," Robinhood says on its website, CNBC noted. The situation differs from SpaceX's June listing, when every eligible customer who requested shares through these platforms received some stock, Bloomberg reported.investinglive.com+2

Overseas offers and the final push

JPMorgan Chase ↗ 0.54% is running U.S. retail allocations, and Citigroup ↘ 0.19% is coordinating the international retail offering, Bloomberg reported. Up to 80.1 million new shares are reserved for retail buyers in nine European countries and Switzerland, filings show. On Friday, Interactive Brokers ↗ 0.41% said eligible European clients can apply until Nov. 17, with allocations depending on availability, MT Newswires reported.finance.yahoo.com+2

Also on Friday, CEO Dario Amodei pitched the company in a livestreamed conversation with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Yahoo Finance reported. For retail investors who don't get shares, the main alternative is to buy once trading opens, which means paying any first-day premium on top of what is already a high valuation.finance.yahoo.com