Prime Minister of UK Resumes Negotiations with SoftBank Regarding London Listing of Arm

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reportedly reopened negotiations with the CEOs of SoftBank and Arm, in a renewed attempt to have the chip designer list its shares in London. This would be a major coup for the UK capital, which is seeking to cement its position as a global financial hub.

A meeting was held last month between Sunak and Arm CEO Rene Haas, according to a Financial Times report. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the potential sale of Arm to a Chinese company, with the chief legal officer, Spencer Collins, also in attendance. The report cites anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of SoftBank, joined the meeting via video, according to the report.

Andrew Griffith, the city minister, was also in attendance, according to the FT.

When asked about the report by CNBC, spokespeople for the U.K.'s Treasury department and Arm declined to comment. SoftBank was not immediately available for comment.

Sunak is the third British prime minister to try to convince SoftBank to list its Arm division in the U.K. This follows a failed attempt by Nvidia to buyout Arm.

In May, former PM Boris Johnson wrote to SoftBank appealing for the Japanese firm to list Arm in London. Liz Truss, who was the U.K. leader for a short time, also tried to renew talks in September.

Arm is a leading technology company with 6,000 staff globally and 3,000 in the U.K. The company is widely regarded as the jewel in the crown of the British tech industry.

SoftBank, which bought Arm for $32 billion in 2016, was originally aiming to sell it to U.S. chipmaking giant Nvidia. However, that deal unraveled early last year after competition regulators sought to block it on antitrust grounds.

Arm, based in Cambridge, is a major player in the semiconductor market, licensing its microchip designs to some of the world's largest consumer tech manufacturers. Around 95% of smartphones globally contain Arm-based processors, including Apple's iPhone.

In an effort to attract leading global tech companies to go public in the U.K., London has relaxed its listings rules. This move is intended to make the city more attractive to these companies and encourage them to list on the London Stock Exchange.

Despite the potential for growth, there are several barriers preventing the UK tech sector from reaching its full potential. One of the biggest obstacles is a lack of understanding from venture capitalists, who are often reluctant to invest in loss-making tech ventures. This problem was exacerbated last year when the amount of money raised by firms listing in London plunged by 90%.

European startups tend to choose New York over regional markets for their IPOs, citing better familiarity from deep-pocketed institutional investors with the growth-hungry tech sector. European startups say that New York provides a deeper pool of potential investors, and that these investors are more familiar with the tech sector and its growth potential.

Arm, which was originally part of Acorn Computers, was spun out into its own company in 1990. It went public on the London Stock Exchange in 1998, but was delisted after it was acquired by SoftBank in 2016.