The only way to convince SoftBank to list Arm in London is on merit
Now the lobbying battle to persuade SoftBank of Japan to relist Arm Holdings in London is becoming zany. The government, reports the Financial Times, has considered using the six-month-old National Security and Investment Act to compel SoftBank to choose the UK stock market, rather than Nasdaq in New York, as the next home for Cambridge’s finest computer chip designer. One hopes ministers and officials had a lie-down in a darkened room after discussing the proposal. It won’t fly.
The security act wasn’t intended for this kind of work. Blocking contentious mergers and acquisitions – or, potentially, preventing French billionaire Patrick Drahi from adding to his 18% stake in BT – was more the intention. While Arm’s microprocessor technology has defence uses, it’s one hell of a stretch to say the UK’s national security would be imperilled if Arm was listed on a stock exchange belonging to our major nuclear ally.
US officials could reasonably point out that, if the UK was really bothered about long-term ownership of Arm, Theresa May’s government in 2016 should not have approved the sale to private Japanese ownership in the first place, all the while singing deluded songs about a Brexit “vote of confidence” from abroad. That was the original mistake.
The fight to host Arm’s listing is definitely worth pursuing, of course. The company is chip designer to the world and, at £40bn-plus, would do more for London’s and the UK’s credentials as a tech-friendly place than a thousand limp IPOs from the likes of Deliveroo; Arm represents proper tech. But the only way to win is on merit.
Two arguments would seem to have a chance of persuading Masayoshi Son, kingpin at SoftBank, that he could get full value for Arm in London. First, there is
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