Wall Street banks offered Anthropic access on sharply different fees

Wealth clients who wanted exposure to Anthropic’s February private fundraising were offered notably different fee terms depending on which Wall Street bank arranged their entry, the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the proposals.

Morgan Stanley told clients it would charge a 1% fee for access to the transaction, the sources said.

Goldman Sachs, however, put forward a more expensive, multi-layered approach that included an ongoing management fee and a share of profits, according to the FT’s report.

Both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were among the institutions that received allocations in Anthropic’s $30bn round in February, alongside other large investors.

The Claude-maker raised money from backers including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Coatue and Nvidia in a deal that valued the company at $350bn as it prepared for what is expected to be one of the largest IPOs on record.

Anthropic declined a request for comment from the FT.

Goldman pitched the opportunity to private wealth clients via a special purpose vehicle (SPV), described by people familiar with the details as a single investment fund.

It did not propose a placement fee. Instead, it presented a 1.25% management fee and carried interest of 17.5% of profits, provided returns reached at least 8%, according to the people.

Morgan Stanley also used an SPV to give clients access but outlined a 1% placement fee and did not include a management fee or carried interest, people familiar with the matter said.

The two banks also differed in how they positioned their role relative to clients. Goldman co-invested alongside its wealth clients, while Morgan Stanley did not act as a fiduciary, meaning it offered the investment without making a recommendation.

People familiar with these deal structures said a management fee is unusual for a single-company investment vehicle, where banks more commonly levy a modest placement charge and a small ongoing maintenance fee.

A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs said: “For single asset opportunities, we usually act as fiduciaries, investing alongside our wealth clients. Our clients gain access to the same deep due diligence and high-conviction investments as our institutional funds, utilising a consistent, traditional fee structure.”

A Morgan Stanley Wealth Management spokesperson said: “When offering private markets access to wealth clients our scale enables us to frequently offer access without management or carry fees, similar to what institutions receive.”

The proposed terms also reflect the different client segments each bank typically serves. Goldman’s wealth business targets the ultra-wealthy, with an average client account of about $70m, while Morgan Stanley, which runs a larger wealth management operation, typically works with clients holding $20m or more in assets.