Sunak steps up charm offensive to bring chip-maker Arm back to the UK

Rishi Sunak has held two meetings with Arm and Softbank executives in a bid to bring the chip giant back to the UK, the Daily Mail can reveal.

It is understood the meetings took place over the past six weeks, with the Chancellor raising the possibility of a golden share so a foreign takeover can be prevented in the future.

There have also been discussions over how funding could be structured for Arm to complete its £34billion float in Britain – including whether the Government could snap up a 25.1 per cent stake to drum up support.

The talks were held in London with Masayoshi Son, chief executive of Arm-owner Softbank, and Arm boss Rene Haas both at the first meeting.

A source close to the Chancellor said: ‘Rishi met Arm and Softbank executives twice over the last six weeks. They discussed different ways that Arm could make a listing in London work. There is a sense that the Government is throwing the kitchen sink at this deal now.’

Revelations about Sunak’s intervention come after Chris Philp, minister for technology and the digital economy, gave the strongest hint yet that Arm might yet chose London over New York.

At a tech event in the capital on Monday he said the company was leaning towards listing in the UK, though this could involve a dual listing on both the London and New York stock markets.

He said the Government was ‘working closely’ with the management of the chip company on the process, adding that ‘Arm themselves have said that initial comments suggesting that it would be a Nasdaq listing was sort of premature’.

He added that ministers were pushing for London, pointing out that 37 tech companies floated on the London Stock Exchange last year – including businesses such as fintech firm Wise and science group Oxford Nanopore.

‘We’re also obviously wanting to promote the UK as an exclusive venue for listing,’ he said.

Government ministers and London Stock Exchange executives have been stepping up their charm offensive in recent weeks, backed by some of the UK’s leading fund managers.

The issue has been highlighted by the Mail’s Back British Tech campaign.

Two weeks ago Andrew Millington, head of UK equities at investment group Abrdn, told the Daily Mail: ‘Arm is a fantastic business, which we were indeed shareholders in before it went private.

‘It would be good news for the UK equity market if Arm were listed here again, as having large, successful, growing tech companies in the London market would help in the battle against the perception in some quarters that the UK market is mature and dull.’

Richard Buxton at Jupiter Asset Management added: ‘London institutional and retail investors have an attachment to Arm as it was such an outstanding success when it was listed before.’

Arm, which was founded in 1990 is based in Cambridge, designs chips that run virtually every smartphone on the planet.

Customers who pay to use its designs include Apple, Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics.

The company employs about 6,400 people globally with about 3,500 in the UK.

The calls for Arm – which has not flourished under Softbank’s six-year ownership – to return home come after its £50billion sale to US tech giant Nvidia fell through earlier this year following scrutiny from regulators around the world over competition concerns.