Japanese investment holding company SoftBank Group Corp. (OTC:SFTBY) is rumored to be eyeing the listing of its Arm chip design unit in an initial public offering in mid-to late-September.
What Happened: Softbank, run by Masayoshi Son, will apply to the SEC later this month for a Nasdaq listing of the U.K.-based company, Nikkei reported, without citing any sources.
Arm's market capitalization at the listing will likely be over $60 billion, which would make the deal the world's biggest initial public offering so far this year.
The report also said tech giants Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Samsung would invest in Arm immediately after its listing.
The Arm parent thinks bringing these companies on board will help stabilize the stock price while listing and therefore intends to sell stakes of a few percent to each, Nikkei said.
Why It's Important: SoftBank currently owns 75% of Arm shares and the remainder of the 25% is held by the SoftBank Vision Fund, which invests in tech companies around the world. The Vision Fund, Nikkei said, would sell 10-15% of its stake.
SoftBank bought Arm in 2016 for $31 billion and since then its valuation has doubled, the report said.
A deal SoftBank negotiated to sell Arm to Nvidia fell through in early 2022 amid anti-competitive concerns.
The rumored move will likely give the IPO market a lift as it hasn't taken off in a big way since the COVID-19 pandemic.
