SoftBank has hired Goldman Sachs to advise it on a potential IPO or sale of chip designer Arm Holdings which it acquired in 2016 for about $32 billion.
SoftBank has hired Goldman Sachs to explore both an initial public offering and a sale of U.K. chip designer Arm Holdings, according to people familiar with the matter.
SoftBank has been preparing to spin out Arm in an IPO but has recently begun exploring sale options after receiving interest from an outside party, said two people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. It’s unclear if the outside company or entity is interested in buying all or just part of Arm…
Few companies could afford to buy all of Arm without intense regulatory scrutiny. Arm has found a niche as a neutral designer of the microprocessors that works with many of the largest equipment manufacturers, including the majority of the world’s smartphones. Apple, Samsung and Qualcomm all use Arm technology in various ways.
MacDailyNews Take: It will be interesting to see if SoftBank and Goldman Sachs find any additional suitors for Arm. Of course, there will be speculation that Apple, Google, Samsung, etc. will be interested.
The company was founded in November 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) Ltd and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple, and VLSI Technology.