As U.S. artificial intelligence firm Anthropic enters the NASDAQ listing process, the National Pension Service (NPS) is expected to secure substantial investment returns.
The value of Anthropic shares acquired in 2024 for 0.1 billion won by a domestic venture fund in which the NPS is the largest investor is projected to grow 20- to 30-fold following the listing. The NPS indirectly holds at least approximately 4 million shares of Anthropic through this fund and SK Telecom, among others.
Anthropic, the developer of the generative AI model "Claude," is pursuing an initial public offering (IPO) that would surpass SpaceX to become the largest in history.
According to pension funds and investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 10th, the "Korea Investment Re-Up 2 Fund," managed by Korea Investment Partners, purchased 333,283 shares of Anthropic for $9,999,990 ($30 per share) in 2024.
Reflecting a stock split in September, this equates to 3,332,830 shares ($3 per share). The Re-Up 2 Fund acquired the Anthropic stake during the liquidation proceedings of FTX, the virtual asset exchange that went bankrupt in 2022. At the time, FTX disposed of 150,733,490 shares of Anthropic.
The Re-Up 2 Fund is a venture fund with a size of 483 billion won, established in 2022. The NPS invested 150 billion won in the Re-Up 2 Fund through the "Re-Up" method, which involves reinvesting in managers with strong performance records.
The NPS's remaining investment balance in the Re-Up 2 Fund was 131.6 billion won as of the end of last year. The investment balance refers to the book value calculated by subtracting recovered amounts and loss provisions from the actual capital contributed.
As this figure reflects only cash inflows and outflows, it does not account for the increase in the value of the Anthropic stake. The amount recovered by the NPS from the Re-Up 2 Fund through the end of last year was at a level of 12.2% of the total capital contributed.
When the Re-Up 2 Fund acquired its stake, Anthropic's corporate valuation was $18.4 billion, but the company was valued at $965 billion during a fundraising round in May last month.
This is 52 times the valuation at the time of purchase. However, considering share dilution from subsequent fundraising rounds and new share issuance for the IPO, the value of the held stake is not expected to increase by the same ratio.
Recent foreign media reports suggest that Anthropic's corporate valuation for its listing is around $1.5 trillion. The IB industry estimated the magnitude of the Re-Up 2 Fund's stake value appreciation by arithmetically applying this corporate valuation along with projected share dilution and other factors.
Applying the NPS's contribution ratio to the shares held by the Re-Up 2 Fund, approximately 1,035,000 shares correspond to the NPS's indirect holdings.
The NPS is also affected by Anthropic's listing as a shareholder of listed companies that have invested in Anthropic. According to related disclosures, SK Telecom (NPS shareholding ratio: 8.46%) spent 272 billion won from 2023 to purchase Anthropic shares, which were valued at 3.505 trillion won as of the end of June.
Applying the NPS's shareholding ratio in SK Telecom to SK Telecom's 38.6033 million held Anthropic shares, the NPS indirectly holds approximately 3.266 million shares of Anthropic through SK Telecom. This is a similar scale to the entire Anthropic stake secured by the Re-Up 2 Fund (3,332,830 shares). Combining both paths, the NPS's indirect holdings of Anthropic shares total approximately 4.3 million shares.
Amazon and other overseas stocks held by the NPS have also invested in Anthropic through convertible bonds and other means since 2023. It is known that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the top two domestic semiconductor companies in which the NPS holds shares, have also invested in Anthropic.
Anthropic entered the NASDAQ listing process by publicly filing a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 26th of last month. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Anthropic aims to begin trading on the 19th or 20th after holding key investor briefings this week. The price range for the offering has not yet been disclosed.
If Anthropic's IPO proceeds as expected, it will surpass SpaceX, which raised $75 billion in June, to become the largest IPO in history. However, some observers note that it is difficult to guarantee a successful subscription given that the listing is taking place amid a sharp decline in AI-related stocks following the U.S. midterm elections.
Since the midterm elections, skeptical views have spread regarding movements to restrict data center construction and theories of overinvestment in AI, and it is known that there are disagreements among major institutional investors regarding corporate valuation.
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