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  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

London Stock Exchange CEO still aiming for dual Arm listing

(2022/07/22)


The boss of the London Stock Exchange Group is refusing to give up on chip designer Arm listing its shares in the UK.

There was some local hope that Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of Arm parent SoftBank, would opt for a dual listing on both the LSE and New York-based NASDAQ. However, this week he put the British element of that proposal [1]on ice amid the change of leadership in the UK government.

Outgoing Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson viewed Arm as a torchbearer for the British technology industry and felt that Arm shares being taken public again on LSE would raise the global profile of the exchange. Incentives are said to have been dangled in front of SoftBank.

[2]

Yet Julia Hoggett, chief executive officer at the LSE Group, is still trying to bring the stock of the British chip designer home, some six years since [3]Arm was sold to SoftBank for £24.3 billion ($29 billion).

[4]

[5]

"I want to win every single offering that I can and I also feel very strongly there is a compelling case for Arm to have a dual premium listing in the UK," she told [6]Bloomberg .

Hoggett added that Arm's previous listing on the London exchange gave it a higher valuation than global peers.

[7]

That said, the vote for Brexit in 2016 may have [8]wiped billions off the value of Arm as its share price had been down 20 percent against the Yen compared to its 12-month peak when it was sold, according to Forrester.

Hoggett added: "We have been working very hard. I describe the energy that I have to winning anything as being that we have to be young, scrappy and hungry… We should absolutely fight for anything that we think we have a compelling strategy to propose."

[9]VMware starts tracking use of experimental Arm hypervisor

[10]SoftBank reportedly moves London IPO out of Arm's reach

[11]Arm in the cloud definitely a trend now with Google Cloud's embrace

[12]HPE unveils Arm-based ProLiant server for cloud-native workloads

Goldman Sachs is poised to become the lead underwriter for Arm's IPO that in March was estimated to value the business at [13]$60 billion – higher than the offer tabled by Nvidia.

As Reg readers know, that Nvidia deal was scuppered by [14]competition watchdogs in the [15]UK , [16]EU , [17]US , and China. This came amid challenges from other chipmakers that voiced serious concerns about the neutrality status of Arm should it move under Nvidia's ownership.

The proposed sale was [18]terminated by Arm and Nvidia in February .

[19]

Unusually, some British unions are behind the government in its efforts to secure a dual listing for Arm.

"Unite Cambridge Engineering branch supports the proposals for a joint listing of Arm on the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ in New York," a spokesperson told The Reg . "We would be concerned for the long term future of the company's global HQ remaining in Cambridge if Arm lists exclusively in the USA and we will always fight to defend our members jobs in Cambridge."

Should Arm be listed on LSE, it will be among the top 10 companies with the highest valuations.

Arm has refused to comment. ®

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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/19/arm_uk_listing_jeopardy/

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YtrJnZQydC9VkJHYbU7t7gAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://www.theregister.com/2016/07/18/softbank_to_buy_arm_holdings_say_reports/

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YtrJnZQydC9VkJHYbU7t7gAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YtrJnZQydC9VkJHYbU7t7gAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-21/lse-in-fight-for-arm-to-list-in-london-says-ceo-hoggett

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YtrJnZQydC9VkJHYbU7t7gAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/arm-softbank-deal-price-brexit-bidding-war

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/21/esxi_arm_fling_upgrade/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/19/arm_uk_listing_jeopardy/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/14/arm_cloud_trend/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/28/hpe_arm_proliant_servers/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/25/goldman_sachs_arm_ipo/

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/18/nvidia/

[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/16/nvidia/

[16] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/27/nvidia_arm_eu_probe_report/

[17] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/03/us_trade_watchdog_tells_nvidia/

[18] https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/08/arm_cancels_sale_to_nvidia/

[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YtrJnZQydC9VkJHYbU7t7gAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/



Read it carefully

VoiceOfTruth

-> Johnson viewed Arm as a torchbearer for the British technology industry and felt that Arm shares being taken public again on LSE would raise the global profile of the exchange.

The exchange, not British technology. It's for his mates in the City.

-> Hoggett added: "We have been working very hard.

She doesn't know what hard work is. She could try using a pick and shovel for a day, or working in a sweatshop with no air conditioning.

Re: Read it carefully

Yet Another Anonymous coward

So what? Other than a few extra fees for London based accountants why does it matter what exchange it's listed on?

I can see for a company like BAe moving the HQ to the US so its a US company and can get US defence contracts matters. But does anyone care where an API licence comes from

Re: Read it carefully

Doctor Syntax

Read it carefully indeed.

Perhaps you didn't read enough of it to get as far as this quote: "We would be concerned for the long term future of the company's global HQ remaining in Cambridge if Arm lists exclusively in the USA and we will always fight to defend our members jobs in Cambridge."

That was from a trade union, not an accountant, a government minister or official or a stock market representative. The union thinks it makes a difference.

Re: Read it carefully

VoiceOfTruth

Oh I did read that. But the union has zero say in this matter, even less than the government.

This is not a British company, any more than Thames Water or E.ON energy are.

Re: Read it carefully

Yet Another Anonymous coward

Listing in the US doesn't mean the HQ has to move.

The 'HQ' moving doesn't mean job losses in the UK - look at how many UK high st business have their 'HQ' on Sark

The Union's job is to be concerned about absolutely everything but i would think that a bigger risk for their company's future in Cambridge is that you can't hire people, especially now we aren't letting any foreign chaps in, and the people you do manage to employ can't afford to live there.

It's a great job ad. "Hey new Mathmo/Natsci/CS/chip designer! Want to live in windy Cambridge ? We pay 1/4 as much as Silicon Valley, 1/10 as much as the City of London, with the highest house prices in Europe"

Re: Read it carefully

Lis

BAe already gets defence contracts in the U.S.

<lilo> "PLEASE RESPECT INTELLECTUAL RIGHTS!"
<lilo> "Please demonstrate intellect." ;)