Arm deal falls through

[AsleepInYorkshire]

UK chip firm Arm sale by Softbank collapses amid competition fears

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has called off its planned sale of UK microchip designer Arm to US technology group Nvidia.

AiY(D)

[Dod101]

UK chip firm Arm sale by Softbank collapses amid competition fears

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has called off its planned sale of UK microchip designer Arm to US technology group Nvidia.

AiY(D)

Not a bad outcome for Softbank; it gets $1.25 billion for doing very little.

Dod

[Gerry557]

Is it good news for UK plc also.

If we are not careful we will have sold everything.

[monabri]

Is it good news for UK plc also.

If we are not careful we will have sold everything.

ARM was already sold.

[Dod101]

Is it good news for UK plc also.

If we are not careful we will have sold everything.

But the owner Softbank is Japanese.

Dod

[BullDog]

I understand ARM is being offered for public listing again in 2023. No information on whether it will have a London or USA listing, or perhaps both. I would be interested in a holding of ARM. But I suspect the listing, if it happens, will be at an "exotic" valuation.

[simoan]

I understand ARM is being offered for public listing again in 2023. No information on whether it will have a London or USA listing, or perhaps both. I would be interested in a holding of ARM. But I suspect the listing, if it happens, will be at an "exotic" valuation.

SoftBank have announced it will be listed on NASDAQ only. No messing with the silly little technology loathing London market, they want top dollar for it. You can thank the idiotic British Government of Theresa May for the whole sorry mess. The whole thing is/was a national disgrace.

[Urbandreamer]

SoftBank have announced it will be listed on NASDAQ only. No messing with the silly little technology loathing London market, they want top dollar for it. You can thank the idiotic British Government of Theresa May for the whole sorry mess. The whole thing is/was a national disgrace.

While I understand the sentiment, and indeed was a forced to sell my shares (being in a small minority). I really don't think that you can blame anyone but those who sold their shares at the time.

The football club Manchester United had quoted shares at the time that the fans were in uproar over it's sale. How many fans had shares in MU? Like MU, the sale of ARM was only possible because not enough people who cared owned the shares.

Did you, like me, own shares in ARM at the time of their sale?

If you want the government / state to have final say in the disposition of privately held assets then I fear those assets can no longer be regarded as owned by anyone other than the state. Do you currently have shares that you feel that the government might benefit from owning? For the good of the country of course.

Possibly we should re-nationalise British Petroleum. No need for windfall taxes and company investment could continue through bad years like 2020-21.

Of course the state could ignore BP and pay a market price to own ARM.

As for listing in the US, I fail to understand how you can blame a British government from decades ago for decisions made by Japanese company today. Actions of that and later governments possibly, but a single government and PM from long ago?

[simoan]

While I understand the sentiment, and indeed was a forced to sell my shares (being in a small minority). I really don't think that you can blame anyone but those who sold their shares at the time.

The football club Manchester United had quoted shares at the time that the fans were in uproar over it's sale. How many fans had shares in MU? Like MU, the sale of ARM was only possible because not enough people who cared owned the shares.

Did you, like me, own shares in ARM at the time of their sale?

My point is, they should never have been able to sell their shares to Softbank. ARM was sacrificed on the altar of the Brexit vote to illustrate the UK had it's legs wide open and would sell itself to anyone with a few quid they found down the back of the sofa. Every time I see Theresa May I just see a really stupid woman in my minds eye, I just can't help it. Thankfully, I don't see her much any more as she recedes into the obscurity she deserves as the worst Prime Minister in my lifetime. FWLIW I was far too clever to hold ARM shares at the time of the sale and sold mine six months before

If you want the government / state to have final say in the disposition of privately held assets then I fear those assets can no longer be regarded as owned by anyone other than the state. Do you currently have shares that you feel that the government might benefit from owning? For the good of the country of course.

I have no idea what you're on about here? At no point have I mentioned or inferred anything about government ownership by proxy. Only the UK in a post Brexit vote mess could be stupid enough to sell off it's only world-class technology business. Many other countries would have stopped the sale of such a key national asset to overseas owners. Would the French or US allowed it? No way! But that does not mean the company is owned by proxy by the state. The two are completely different things, particularly when the equity is freely tradeable on two stock markets - New York AND London.

As for listing in the US, I fail to understand how you can blame a British government from decades ago for decisions made by Japanese company today. Actions of that and later governments possibly, but a single government and PM from long ago?

I wasn't blaming the Government for the US only re-listing other than ARM should never have been sold to Softbank in the first place. However, I do blame the institutions of the London Stock Market who completely fail to understand technology companies and their network effects, leading to gross mispricing, which in turn leads to any half decent technology company being removed from the market by overseas purchasers. Is it any surprise that the daily trade by value in New York of Apple stock alone is double that traded on the entire LSE?

[Urbandreamer]

My point is, they should never have been able to sell their shares to Softbank. ARM was sacrificed on the altar of the Brexit vote to illustrate the UK had it's legs wide open and would sell itself to anyone with a few quid they found down the back of the sofa. Every time I see Theresa May I just see a really stupid woman in my minds eye, I just can't help it. Thankfully, I don't see her much any more as she recedes into the obscurity she deserves as the worst Prime Minister in my lifetime. FWLIW I was far too clever to hold ARM shares at the time of the sale and sold mine six months before

If you want the government / state to have final say in the disposition of privately held assets then I fear those assets can no longer be regarded as owned by anyone other than the state. Do you currently have shares that you feel that the government might benefit from owning? For the good of the country of course.

I have no idea what you're on about here? At no point have I mentioned or inferred anything about government ownership by proxy. Only the UK in a post Brexit vote mess could be stupid enough to sell off it's only world-class technology business. Many other countries would have stopped the sale of such a key national asset to overseas owners. Would the French or US allowed it? No way! But that does not mean the company is owned by proxy by the state. The two are completely different things, particularly when the equity is freely tradeable on two stock markets - New York AND London.

I thought that it was the fact that ARM was freely tradable, that allowed them to be bought! You claim to believe that such freedom to sell should not have been allowed.

There are indeed many countries who do restrict share ownership. China and Vietnam come to mind. However such restrictions are just that. The shares are NOT freely tradable.

So, would you consider buying ARM back again, at the right price?

[simoan]

I thought that it was the fact that ARM was freely tradable, that allowed them to be bought! You claim to believe that such freedom to sell should not have been allowed.

There are indeed many countries who do restrict share ownership. China and Vietnam come to mind. However such restrictions are just that. The shares are NOT freely tradable.

So, would you consider buying ARM back again, at the right price?

I'm sorry if I was not clear. ARM was bought out in the usual manner of a takeover of a stock market listed company but the government could have, and should have, stopped it in the national interest. Other countries do this frequently, see the US disallowing the sale of US ports to Dubai World, blocking Microsoft's attempt to takeover Tik-Tok etc. There are many examples, including the US pressuring other countries into not selling globally important companies to the Chinese. The Chinese also blocked the acquisition of NXP (Dutch company) by Qualcomm (US company). Everyone is doing it but us because we have dumb-ass politicians who have no commercial sense whatsoever. the only good news is that I believe we now have legislation in the UK that would very likely block a globally important company from being sold to overseas investors. Too late for ARM though.

I suspect ARM will be re-listed with a valuation well in excess of that with which it left the LSE, so probably not for me. I much prefer the likes of Qualcomm and Broadcom (ARM architecture licensees) which are comparatively cheap given the long-term outlook for semiconductors.