CAMBRIDGE (CU)_Over the recent years SoftBank has found itself mired in a legal fight with the head of its Chinese joint venture. The battle is now preventing the company from trying to float the British chip designer Arm, which has been in dispute with Allen Wu, the head of the joint venture Arm China, since 2020, when the company’s board voted to remove him. Wu, who has managed to retain control over the venture as a result of legal rights, has now launched a third legal action against Arm China. This means further rate tape which SoftBank will need to overcome before floating Cambridge-based Arm.
SoftBank bought Arm in 2016 for £24 billion (US$32.5 billion). It was forced to consider floating the company after its efforts to sell the British chip designer to US-based Nvidia collapsed last week amid regulatory hurdles and political resistance in the US, UK and Europe.
Meanwhile, SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son has decided to snub the United Kingdom for the listing of Arm, revealing plans for the company to be listed on New York’s Nasdaq exchange. “We think that the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US, which is at the centre of global hi-tech, would be most suitable,” Son said. Accordingly, London Stock Exchange chiefs are expected to make a lobbying effort to convince SoftBank to consider the UK for the public listing, reaffirmed the company of the virtues of a listing in London.
Regardless, the management turmoil at the Chinese division remain a concern among Arm executives, with chief financial officer Inder Singh admitting that the matters need to be resolved in order to progress on the company’s plans. “Even if we weren’t doing an IPO that would still be something we would be focused on,” he said. Last month, Arm warned that it had been stopped from auditing the accounts. “[It’s] important for us to make sure that we have certain rights that will be important for our financials,” Singh said. “One of those will be the continuing right to audit revenues.”
