SoftBank Group Corp. is reportedly in discussions to purchase the 25% stake in chip designer Arm Ltd. that is held by its Vision Fund 1, ahead of a highly anticipated IPO.
Reuters reported Sunday that Japan’s SoftBank 9984, -1.85% — which owns 75% of Arm — is negotiating a deal with VF1, the $100 billion investment fund it created in 2017, and noted that a deal could give VF1 investors a big boost after years of meager returns. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. are among VF1’s largest investors.
SoftBank is planning to launch a long-awaited initial public offering for British chip designer Arm as soon as September. That will likely be the biggest IPO of the year on Wall Street, aiming to raise $8 billion to $10 billion at a valuation around $60 billion to $70 billion.
A number of large tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.11%, Intel Corp. INTC, +0.61% and Nvidia Inc. NVDA, -3.62%, are reportedly in the mix to be anchor investors in Arm’s IPO.
Last week, SoftBank reported its tech-heavy Vision Funds turned a quarterly profit for the first time in 18 months