AI TRENDS | Blackstone Says Anthropic Could Receive Junk Rating After IPO

Blackstone now expects Anthropic may not receive an investment-grade credit rating immediately after its IPO. According to Sina Finance, people familiar with the matter said Blackstone had previously expected an investment-grade rating by the end of 2026 but recently revised its outlook to a BB-range or higher non-investment-grade rating, based on feedback from major credit-rating agencies. Anthropic’s IPO prospectus says it plans to invest more than $800 billion in computing infrastructure by 2045. The company has more than $112 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and investors expect its IPO could raise about $100 billion. A U.S. technology-focused portfolio manager said that lacking an investment-grade rating would raise financing costs. Insurance companies and pension funds may also be limited in how much non-investment-grade debt they can hold. The revised rating outlook comes as Anthropic pursues a $63 billion chip-financing deal, Project North Star, to lease 1.5 gigawatts of Google AI computing capacity. Blackstone is the deal’s lead investor and is working with participating banks to sell the debt to other institutional investors. Broadcom guarantees more than $42 billion in senior loans, while $18 billion in junior debt is to be repaid from Anthropic’s lease payments. Blackstone funds invested $9 billion in the junior debt, which yields more than 10%. Kroll Bond Rating Agency has rated the $18 billion in junior debt BB+ with a positive outlook, while Morningstar DBRS assigned it a BB rating. Fitch, Moody’s and S&P have not formally announced credit ratings for Anthropic itself.