Owned by Softbank, which bought the company back in 2016 for £25bn, Arm confirmed that it was seeking a US-only main listing later this year, despite heavy lobbying by the City of London and by the PM himself.
SoftBank decided on a flotation after Nvidia’s proposed $40bn takeover was blocked and if it had decided to list the company in London it would have provided a huge boost for the capital’s longer-term ambitions to have more tech flotations.
Arm said that it might consider a subsequent London listing, but nonetheless this is a real blow to London’s financial district which has been struggling to attract technology-focused companies and so far has been responsible for just a tiny fraction of the flotations seen in New York.
Arm has pledged to keep its headquarters, operations and “material intellectual property” in the UK and has plans to expand its presence with a new facility in Bristol.
This decision is certainly a ‘kick in teeth’ for London’s stock exchange which has witnessed a series of high-profile disasters in UK tech and continues to struggle to attract fast-growing tech companies.
