SoftBank halts plans for Arm’s London IPO

SoftBank has put on hold plans for a London initial public offering of the British chip technology firm Arm Ltd because of the political turmoil in the UK government, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

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The departures of investment minister Gerry Grimstone and digital minister Chris Philp, following the collapse of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government earlier this month, have led SoftBank to pause discussions about Arm’s UK listing next year, the FT reported, citing people briefed on the talks.

They had both played leading roles in talks with the Japanese tech investor, the FT reported, adding the turmoil could pave the way for SoftBank to pursue a more straightforward U.S. listing.

Arm declined to comment. SoftBank and a spokesperson from the UK government did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

SoftBank’s billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son, had told shareholders in June that he was in favour of a U.S. listing as most of Arm’s clients are based there.

SoftBank acquired Cambridge, England-based Arm for $32 billion in 2016 and struck a blockbuster deal four years later to sell it to Nvidia Corp. The deal was, however, shelved due to regulatory hurdles.

Arm supplies the intellectual property in chips that power most of the world’s smartphones, including those from Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.