Anthropic is preparing to publicly file paperwork for a potentially record-breaking initial public offering as soon as next week, with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs reportedly closing in on leading roles in the deal, according to the Financial Times.

The AI company behind Claude is expected to file its IPO prospectus shortly, although the timing has not yet been finalised.

Morgan Stanley is currently considered the frontrunner to secure the coveted “lead left” position on the offering, while Goldman Sachs is expected to act as the IPO’s stabilisation agent.

The “lead left” bank takes the primary role in managing an IPO, including advising on valuation and coordinating the offering, while the stabilisation agent can intervene in early trading to help limit excessive volatility in the share price.

Morgan Stanley has reportedly led recent discussions with prospective investors over the price at which Anthropic could float its shares. However, its appointment as lead left, which would make the bank a key strategic adviser on the transaction, has yet to be formally confirmed.

JPMorgan, Citigroup and Barclays are also expected to receive prominent roles in the offering after previously providing debt financing to Anthropic.

The potential flotation could become the largest IPO on record. Half a dozen Anthropic investors have previously indicated that they expect the company to list at a valuation of $2 trillion or more, potentially generating tens of billions of dollars in gains for early investors.

Anthropic is currently valued at more than $900 billion and has experienced a sharp increase in its fortunes during the past year.

The proposed valuation would see it overtake SpaceX, which raised $86bn when it listed in June at a valuation of $1.78tn. Goldman Sachs led that offering, while Morgan Stanley acted as stabilisation agent. The two banks each received $100mn from a fee pool of around $500mn shared between more than 20 lenders involved in the deal.

Anthropic is reportedly preparing to hold its investor roadshow towards the end of September. If the current timetable holds, the company could begin trading in New York in late September or early October.

The listing would provide a major test of public-market appetite for rapidly growing AI companies at a time when shares in the sector have experienced considerable volatility.

Anthropic’s recent revenue growth has been substantial, although it has fallen short of some of the most optimistic investor forecasts. The company told shareholders in August that its July revenue had reached an annualised rate of $65bn, up from $47bn in May. Some investors had expected annualised sales to exceed $80bn.

The company is also facing continued competition from OpenAI, which is itself expected to pursue a public listing early next year.

OpenAI has experienced a resurgence in recent months and this week launched its latest AI model, which it described as “the world’s most intelligent”.

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A public listing would also bring greater scrutiny to Anthropic’s unusual governance arrangements.

The company has established a structure involving powerful external trustees intended to provide a counterweight to commercial incentives and maintain a balance between profit and its wider purpose.

While that structure has so far operated while Anthropic has remained privately held, a public listing would expose the company to a different set of pressures, including quarterly financial reporting, continuous movements in its share price and greater scrutiny from institutional and governance-focused shareholders.

The prospectus is therefore expected to provide important detail on Anthropic’s corporate governance, including the composition of its trustee body, the extent of its authority relative to shareholders and how the company’s balance between commercial interests and wider objectives is reflected in its governing documents.

For prospective investors, those disclosures could help establish the extent to which Anthropic’s stated mission operates as a formal constraint on the company rather than simply an aspirational objective.

The IPO would also represent a major prize for Wall Street. The “lead left” bank typically plays a central role in valuation discussions and decisions over how shares are allocated to hedge funds, institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are also expected to compete for leading roles in an eventual OpenAI flotation.