Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank recently acquired British semiconductor design company ARM in a $32 million USD deal making it the biggest technology acquisition of the year. Pending a likely approval from ARM shareholders, SoftBank’s offer of $32 million USD (~$67.28 per share) is a whopping 42.9% over ARM’s $22.3 billion USD (~$47.08 per share) valuation as of closing last Friday.
Among those familiar with the chip industry, this quite possibly one of the least expected acquisitions to take place as SoftBank currently has no operations in the semiconductor business. That said, given ARM’s dominance in the mobile and IoT markets, the SoftBank acquisition should be mutually beneficial for both companies. ARM on one hand will have access to SoftBank’s vast pool of resources for R&D while ARM’s vast pool of intellectual property will give SoftBank access to another growing business segment they currently don’t operate in.
Source: Reuters
