Arm Holdings, the renowned UK-based chip designer, has achieved a staggering valuation of $54.5bn (£43.6bn) as it gears up for an eagerly-awaited return to the stock market. This marks the largest initial public offering (IPO) of the year, with shares set to the tune of $51 each, the higher end of the range presented to potential investors.
This return to the stock market is scheduled to kick off on the New York Nasdaq stock exchange come Thursday, with an initial sale of 95.5 million shares. This sale proves beneficial for its Japanese owner, SoftBank Group, bringing in an impressive $4.87bn.
The IPO has drawn interest from a multitude of Arm’s customers, some of which are the most notable names in technology, including but not limited to Apple, Google, Nvidia, Alphabet, Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, and Samsung.
In a twist of events earlier this year, Arm revealed its plans to forego listing its shares in the UK, dealing a somewhat surprising punch to the London stock market. Allegedly, discussions between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and SoftBank had occurred in January regarding a possible UK listing.
The decision to confine the listing solely to the US was identified by Arm as ‘the best path forward’. With a resounding influence in the global technology industry, Arm’s contributions reach far and wide with an estimated 70% of the global population utilising products with Arm’s chips integrated, a percentage that spans virtually all of the world’s smartphones.
Seven years earlier, SoftBank made a strategic move to privatise Arm, acquiring it in a hefty $32bn deal. While there were attempts to offload Arm to the stateside rival chip titan, Nvidia, the potential deal was dropped in February of the previous year. The sale encountered significant regulatory obstacles in the UK, US, and European Union which led to its eventual dissolution.
