Major foreign media reported that the British government has resumed talks with major shareholder Softbank to list ARM, a British-based semiconductor fabless company, on the London stock market. With discussions on listing suspended after the resignation of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, attention is being paid to whether his successor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will be able to successfully persuade Softbank again.
Citing unnamed sources, major foreign media said Prime Minister Sunak and British Treasury Secretary Andrew Griffith held talks with ARM CEO Renee Haas and Chief Legal Officer Spencer Collins last month. Softbank Chairman Sohn Jung-eui also participated in the meeting via video. ARM is known to be a key semiconductor design company that is also in talks with Samsung in South Korea to acquire.
Major foreign media commented that the talks between the two sides were very constructive and positive. However, it is said that the British government and executives of the London Stock Exchange are still having difficulty persuading Softbank as the listing requires complicated procedures and high costs.
Until now, the British government has worked hard to persuade Softbank to push ahead with a plan to list ARM on the New York and London stock markets simultaneously. This is because they were concerned that the British economy would be hit hard if ARM pushed for listing only in New York, not London, at a time when it was pushing to strengthen its technology sector. ARM is a company that provides design IP, which is the core of semiconductor production, and was one of the key technology companies in the UK in the past, and most of its businesses still remain in the UK.
In response, former British Prime Minister Johnson sent a letter urging Chairman Sohn to be listed in May last year. Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who announced his resignation 45 days after taking office, also reportedly planned to re-promote negotiations with Softbank in September last year.
However, Bloomberg said Softbank has decided to temporarily suspend discussions on listing on the London Stock Exchange. Analysts say the decision was made in the wake of political turmoil in the UK, with former Prime Minister Johnson announcing his plan to resign and a large number of senior officials resigning.
Earlier, Softbank signed an ARM sale contract with Nvidia in the U.S. in 2020, but failed to merge due to opposition from global IT companies. Since then, it has announced that it will proceed with listing companies instead of mergers from February last year. Chairman Sohn has repeatedly expressed his intention to focus on listing on the New York Stock Exchange because of his wide investment base and attractive corporate valuation.
At the time, major foreign media said through anonymous sources that most small investors believed it was more appropriate to launch an IPO in New York rather than London, adding that Softbank is unlikely to change its mind to push ahead with listing on the New York Stock Exchange instead of the London Stock Exchange.
JENNIFER KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
