Rishi Sunak Resumes Push for Arm to List in London.
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Rishi Sunak Resumes Push for Arm to List in London.

January 9th, 2023 3 minute read

The cover image of this article is from ft.com.

  • British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has recently encouraged Japanese investor, SoftBank, to list the Cambridge-based chip designer and former FTSE 100 member, Arm, in London. Arm is responsible for the designs of the chips embedded in 95% of the world's smartphones and is considered to be the most important British tech company.

  • Sunak met with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Arm, Rene Haas, and the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Spencer Collins in Downing Street last month, with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son joining them through video call. The British government has been constantly asking for the listing of Arm on the London Stock Exchange as a show of support for the UK, with the discussions taking place under three Prime Ministers amidst the political upheaval over the past year.

  • The London Stock Exchange, alongside UK City Minister, Andrew Griffith, have also been taking part in these talks, as per the Financial Times. John Glen, a Treasury Minister, had a meeting in June with SoftBank and Arm for the purpose of discussing the list of Arm on the stock exchange.

  • The government of the United Kingdom and the concerned authorities have taken the steps towards making changes in the UK listing rules in order to make the London Stock Exchange an attractive option for the quickly growing technological companies. This is mainly intended to attract these companies to list their shares in London. The talks between SoftBank and the UK have reportedly looked into the prospect of dual-listing, which would open the door to the trading of Arm in both London and New York. This could come with additional complexities and higher costs, however.

  • In 2016, SoftBank bought Arm for the sum of 32 billion British Pounds. It was at the time of the Brexit vote, with the ensuing devaluation of pound sterling being a factor in the deal. The Japanese investor was allegedly looking to sell it earlier this year to American semiconductor manufacturer Nvidia, for a sum of 40 billion dollars, before the deal fell through due to objections from the regulatory side.

  • Going back to the stock list plans, due to economic turbulence and a decline in the market value of tech companies, the IPO has been delayed until March 2023. A letter from Arm's Head of Investor Relations knowledgeable informed private shareholders of the delay, though he added that the company is still intent on going public by 2023.

Arm have not commented on the news, while the Prime Minister's Office has not responded to a request for comment.