SoftBank completes ARM acquisition

The acquisition of British processor designer ARM by Japanese technology and telecom company SoftBank was completed on Tuesday, September 6. This means, among other things, that ARM can no longer be found on the London Stock Exchange from that moment on.

SoftBank made this known in a statement on its site. In total, the acquisition involves an amount of 24 billion pounds, converted just under 29 billion euros. The first rumors about the acquisition came out on July 18 this year, after which the companies quickly confirmed that they were indeed correct. Then, on August 31, the green light came from the shareholders of ARM and two days later the court also approved. After the consolidation of the finances on September 5, the acquisition is now a fact.

SoftBank’s interest in ARM probably stemmed from the expected growth of the Internet of Things. ARM’s processor designs are suitable for IoT applications because of their economy. ARM has 4000 employees and last year had a turnover of 1 billion pounds. In 2015, manufacturers produced 15 billion chips under ARM’s license.

Japanese tech giant SoftBank owns 28 percent of the shares of Alibaba and 77 percent of the American Sprint Nextel. The latter involved an investment of 20 billion dollars. SoftBank also bought the Japanese Vodafone branch for 15 billion dollars.