SINGAPORE, July 18 Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp is close to buying ARM Holdings PLC for $32 billion and an announcement could come as early as Monday, a source familiar with the matter said.
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SoftBank and Arm could not immediately be reached for comment. With the mobile phone market slowing, ARM is adding new customers in the automotive industry and targeting growth in processors for network equipment makers and servers.
Although ARM’s microchips are famed as the brains behind the iPhone, fewer than half the 15bn produced to its design previous year were used in smartphones. The deal is set to be announced Monday.
The possible deal comes just weeks after Britain voted to leave the European Union, battering sterling and bolstering the yen. Its shares have actually climbed nearly 17 percent since the vote.
SoftBank, a technology conglomerate in Japan, will pay £17 per share for Arm in a cash deal, a 43 percent premium to its closing price on Friday.
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SoftBank was reportedly drawn to the chipmaker for the opportunities its technology would provide the Japanese giant in the growing internet of things market.
