Why the world’s biggest IPO matters to Australia’s deal makers
afr.comSoftBank-backed British semiconductor and chip manufacturer Arm will start investor meetings next week, ahead of what is slated to be the year’s biggest initial public offering.
Arm’s roadshow is being watched by investors from Wall Street to Australia. The $US8 billion ($12.4 billion) float provides much-needed liquidity as stock exchanges around the world shrink. The company will make stops in London, New York and Boston from next Tuesday, after the Labour Day holiday in the US, people familiar with the transaction said, and an IPO in New York could price a week later.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is expected to contribute proceeds from an Arm IPO towards future acquisitions. Bloomberg
As reported by The Australian Financial Review in June, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, JPMorgan and Mizuho are leading meetings on behalf of Arm, with a further 24 banks serving as underwriters.
Arm “will have a little impact out here. This is a very specialist company in the tech space, and there is still a fair appetite for these companies. When you look at the way the US market has taken off, with tech at the forefront, it is where the action is,” said Karl Morris, chief executive at stockbroker Ord Minnett.
Hasan Tevfik, a senior research analyst at MST Marquee, said Arm’s IPO was in the “right area of the market” as tech companies linked to breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence helped lift the S&P 500 about 19 per cent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq up almost 36 per cent, this year.
While the transaction is not a sure catalyst for more Australian listings, the jumbo share sale is “a bit of a test”, particularly when sounding out investor demand for more floats, Mr Tevfik said.
The deal will inject new supply into the equity
Read more on afr.com
