Freshfields has secured a role on Anthropic’s much-trailed IPO, with a clutch of US firms also advising as the AI giant prepares to go public.
The UK-headquartered firm is advising the underwriters, with a team led by global co-head of US capital markets Sarah Solum and capital markets partners Calise Cheng and Phillip Stoup, all based in Silicon Valley.
The mandate marks a major coup for the magic circle firm as it continues its US strategic push, and comes after the firm agreed a multi-year partnership with Anthropic earlier this year.
In June, Freshfields also advised SpaceX on the European arm of its record IPO, which valued the company at more than $1.75trn.
Wilson Sonsini is advising Anthropic, with a team led by firm chair Rezwan Pavri, and including corporate department head Allison Spinner, capital markets partner Jonie Kondracki, and corporate and securities partners Lester Ang, Colin Conkling, Shannon Delahaye and Lang Liu.
The firm has a long relationship with Anthropic, having assisted the company on the creation of its Long-Term Benefit Trust (LTBT) in 2023, and advised on matters including its expanded collaboration with Amazon Web Services in 2024, which brought Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic to $8bn.
Anthropic’s S-1 form, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today (26 October) ahead of its proposed listing on the Nasdaq, also discloses that an investment partnership affiliated with Wilson Sonsini owns less than 0.01% of Anthropic’s outstanding stock.
Also advising on the IPO are Cravath, Orrick, and Cleary Gottlieb.
Cravath is advising Anthropic’s co-founders in connection with certain governance matters. The firm’s team is led by venture capital and growth equity co-head Nicholas Dorsey, global M&A co-head Aaron Gruber, and M&A partner Claudia Fitzpatrick (née Ricciardi).
Christopher Fargo is advising on tax matters, William Podurgiel is advising on corporate governance matters, and Jonathan Katz is advising on executive compensation and benefits matters.
Orrick is acting as co-counsel for Anthropic, advising on certain executive compensation and equity matters, while Cleary is advising the LTBT on certain governance matters.
