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Rishi launches new bid to convince owner of microchip designer Arm to list both London and New York
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Rishi Sunak has revived talks to convince Arm’s foreign owner to go public in both London and New York.
The Prime Minister met with the CEO of the British technology group, Rene Haas, in Downing Street last month to discuss the future.
Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of Arm’s owner Softbank, attended the meeting via video link, according to the Financial Times.
Tech gem: Arm was previously listed on both the FTSE 100 and Nasdaq before being bought by Softbank and politicians lobbied last summer to return it to UK soil
Japanese multinational Softbank bought the Cambridge-based company for £26 billion in 2016, but now wants to sell it.
A listing on the Nasdaq in New York – where shares of rivals such as Nvidia, Qualcomm and Intel are traded – is preferred.
But the government and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) are pushing for Arm shares to be listed in Britain as well.
Arm was previously listed on both the FTSE 100 and the Nasdaq before being bought by Softbank and politicians lobbied last summer to bring this tech gem back to UK soil.
But turmoil in Westminster and the broader initial public offering (IPO) slump saw Softbank abandon all IPO plans last year, leaving the listing location in limbo. According to management consultancy EY, global IPO volumes fell 45 percent in 2022.
It is clear that Sunak, as well as the LSE, are keen to rekindle the discussions by pushing Softbank to a secondary listing in London, giving British investors more exposure and returning returns to the economy.
LSE chief Julia Hoggett recently called on the UK to do more to not only grow tech giants, but keep them.
“We have a lot of starter fuel,” she said. “But we’re not running the engine.”
Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates, a global network of tech founders, explained that a renewed push for dual listing could cement the UK as a “major player” in the semiconductor space.
“An IPO would give Arm a unique position in London and make them a harbinger to attract other tech talent to the capital,” he said.
Gerard Grech, who heads another UK founding network Tech Nation, said: ‘A listing in London would be seen as an important vote of confidence in the UK market, while for Arm, tapping both exchanges would allow his access to capital. could increase. .’
Anthony Browne, Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire, said it was vital that Arm be listed in the UK and called it a ‘key part of our national security infrastructure’.