Stock Relisting Could Be a Boon for Arm

Nitin Dahad, EE Times European correspondent
3/27/2018 00:01 AM EDT

Arm Holdings would gain much-needed visibility under a plan being floated by Softbank to re-list the processor IP firm on the stock market.

A potential relisting of Arm by SoftBank, as highlighted last week in the UK’s Financial Times newspaper, could be a boon for the company, says one former senior electronics industry executive from Imagination Technologies.

Yoshimitsu Goto, a senior corporate officer at SoftBank, is said to have suggested to investors that an initial public offering could be a potential exit strategy for an investment fund that SoftBank launched last year. The report adds that the $93 billion Vision Fund, backed by Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund and companies including Apple and Qualcomm, is set to acquire a 25 percent stake in Arm.

Goto, speaking at an investment conference in Hong Kong, emphasized that while a relisting would be a possibility, Softbank does not have any immediate plans to do so. In any case, SoftBank has been considering ways of optimizing its investment in Arm, which it acquired for $32 billion in 2016, and take some cash out.

Arm spokespeople said Simon Segars, CEO of Arm, was unable to comment.

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