Prime Minister Theresa May said the deal between Softbank and ARM Holdings showed the United Kingdom economy could be successful after the country voted to leave the European Union.
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Perhaps most interesting in SoftBank’s list of intentions is their aim to “increase the headcount of ARM outside the United Kingdom over the next five years”.
However, ARM, which will keep its headquarters in Cambridge, says it expects to at least double the number of staff it employs within the next five years.
Softbank has given assurances to ARM which include the preservation of the current ARM organisation, senior management and partnership based business model.
It is the latest in a long line of acquisitions from Japanese giant SoftBank, which has participated in more than 140 deals worth $82 billion in the last decade, according to Dealogic.
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, who owns USA carrier Sprint, reportedly made a bid to buy ARM for $31 billion.
ARM, the British chip designer responsible behind the A-series processors used in Apple’s iOS devices, looks set to be bought by Japanese telecoms company Softbank.
Philip Hammond, Britain’s new Treasury chief, said the deal shows that Britain has “lost none of its allure to worldwide investors” in the wake of the June 23 vote to leave the European Union. Britain is open for business – and open to foreign investment.
“Softbank’s decision confirms that Britain remains one of the most attractive destinations globally for investors to create jobs and wealth”.
Imagination Technologies climbed 10% in reaction to ARM Holdings takeover, will weak currency promote more takeovers? “The Board believes that by accessing all the resources that SoftBank has to offer, ARM will be able to further accelerate the use of ARM-based technology wherever computing happens”, he concluded. ARM’s board of directors has unanimously confirmed that it intends to recommend the acquisition to the company’s shareholders.
Then Autonomy was swallowed up by HP in an ill-fated deal, a year ago the chipmaker Qualcomm bought CSR, and now the biggest and best, ARM, is about to have a Japanese owner.
The deal marks the biggest-ever for SoftBank, which under Chairman Masayoshi Son emerged as among Japan’s most acquisitive firms with shares in wireless carrier Sprint Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
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At the outset there doesn’t seem to be any regulatory issues and the share price first thing this morning was trading above the £17.00 cash offer price and roughly 48x higher than expected 2016 earnings.
