Smartphone microchip designer ARM Holdings has attracted a stellar list of cornerstone investors to its upcoming share listing, including Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)'s Google, in what could be this year's biggest initial public offering (IPO) so far.
The British company is seeking to raise up to approximately US$4.9 billion from its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange later this month.
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the microchip designer will price its shares at between US$47 and US$51 each.
That could make its listing on Nasdaq the world’s largest since Porsche AG (ETR:P911)’s IPO last September.
ARM, which was bought by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank for US$32 billion in 2016, develops and licenses microchips to big-tech smartphone producers such as Apple and Samsung.
The planned IPO values the company at approximately US$52 billion, greater than Softbank's original purchase price but less than the US$64 billion inferred valuation from Softbank's purchase of 25% of the company’s shares from its Vision Fund last month.
Among the big tech companies vying for shares in the company include Apple, Google International LLC, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (ADR) (LSE:BC94), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD). They have expressed interest in becoming cornerstone investors and their investments could total about US$735 million.
Softbank will retain 90% of shares in the company after its earlier bid to sell Arm to Nvidia for US$40 billion was blocked by antitrust regulators in 2021.