Progress on Arm London listing ‘hugely significant’, says tech chief
Tech chiefs have hailed the possibility of a London listing for British chipmaker Arm as “hugely significant”, after the digital minister said progress had been made in discussions with the firm’s owner SoftBank this week.
The Government has been on a charm offensive in recent months to try and woo Arm’s Japanese owner SoftBank into listing the firm in the capital, after SoftBank indicated earlier this year it was heading for a New York Listing.
Digital Minister Chris Philp suggested on Monday that the company might consider a dual listing in London, however, telling the Financial Times that Arm themselves had acknowledged that comments indicating a Nasdaq listing “was sort of premature”.
Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates, told City PM today Philp’s comments were a promising update on the effort to “bring Arm home”.
“We should take a lot of encouragement from the latest comments from Minister Philp, suggesting the Government is making headway in discussions with Softbank to ‘bring Arm home’ to London,” he said.
“Securing a dual UK-US listing would be hugely significant – both in retaining all the innovation, talent and expertise ARM holds in the UK, while also providing a building block for other tech companies to follow suit.
Shaw said the decision by Arm holds “significant national and strategic importance” due to the value of the semiconductor industry globally.
A listing for Arm comes after a blockbuster takeover deal by US rival Nvidia fell through earlier this year after intense regulatory pressures on both sides of the Atlantic.
SoftBank boss Masayaoshi Son said that he favoured a Nasdaq listing for the firm, sparking a major charm offensive from ministers and MPs to try and tempt the chipmaker to London.
In an interview with City PM’s Tech Weekly podcast last month, Philp said ministers had “addressed a number of the technical impediments to London listing” and were holding meeting with SoftBank bosses to tempt them into a London listing.