Anthropic nears investment-grade status with top junk credit rating

Traders Union
All News
Business & Wealth
Companies
Anthropic nears investment-grade status

Highlights

KBRA assigned Anthropic a BB+ issuer rating in June, one notch below investment grade, based on limited financial disclosures ahead of a $35 billion chip financing led by Apollo.
About $4.4 billion of junior debt in the June financing is exposed directly to Anthropic’s credit risk and also received a BB+ rating with an 8.5 per cent yield.
Attaining investment-grade status would broaden Anthropic’s access to institutional investors and lower borrowing costs, a key consideration as it currently holds no balance sheet debt.

June rating supports chip financing plans

As first reported by the Financial Times, Kroll Bond Rating Agency assigned Anthropic an issuer rating of BB+ in June, one notch below investment grade, based on select financial information supplied by the company and documents reviewed by the newspaper. The rating action had not been previously reported and came ahead of a $35 billion chip financing led by Apollo.

The assessment is significant because investment-grade status would broaden Anthropic’s access to institutional investors such as life insurers and pension funds while reducing borrowing costs. About $4.4 billion of junior debt in the June financing package exposes lenders directly to Anthropic’s credit risk, while the remainder is backed by a guarantee from Broadcom.

That junior debt also received a BB+ rating with a stable outlook from KBRA. The debt was sold with a yield of about 8.5 per cent, while the senior debt carried an interest rate of 5.75 per cent.

KBRA’s analysis relies on limited financial disclosures, including revenue, adjusted operating income and annualised run-rate revenue for the first quarter of 2026, plus an internal forecast for the second quarter. The materials do not include metrics such as free cash flow or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, forcing analysts to estimate some measures and use a separate risk-score approach rather than a full traditional model.

KBRA and Anthropic decline to comment. At the time of the rating decision, Anthropic has no debt on its own balance sheet as of late June and instead relies on business partners and special-purpose vehicles for funding.

In our earlier article on rising sovereign borrowing risks, we noted that prolonged geopolitical tensions and elevated public spending are straining government finances as interest rates stay higher for longer. We highlighted that the squeeze is most severe in emerging and frontier markets, where high debt-service costs and inflation pressures—amplified by energy and food price shocks—can weigh on refinancing conditions and credit outlooks.

This material may contain third-party opinions, none of the data and information on this webpage constitutes investment advice according to our Disclaimer. While we adhere to strict Editorial Integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners.