Mizuho Financial Group is carving out a lucrative niche in Japan’s equity capital market by bridging the ravenous U.S. demand for artificial intelligence fundraising and its home country’s deep pool of retail savings.
Anthropic’s listing is the third in a string of blockbuster deals where Mizuho snagged a key role, looking to raise as much as $3.5 billion from Japanese investors. It shows that the bank is able to leverage its success in building a U.S. business to compete on a market traditionally dominated by Nomura Holdings where domestic deals have hit a drought.
The Claude chatbot maker is following SpaceX in bringing a mega deal to the Japanese market, attracted to its cash-rich retail investors and a streamlined offering process. The country’s households have about ¥2.4 quadrillion ($15 trillion) in financial assets, with roughly half parked in currency and deposits, according to the Bank of Japan.
AloJapan.com