Topline
British chip designer Arm intends to raise as much as $5 billion in its upcoming stateside initial public offering, according to paperwork filed early Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming Arm should be by far the largest IPO in two years.
Key Facts
Arm will list 95.5 million shares on Nasdaq at an estimated price of $47 to $51 per share, the company said Tuesday.
That puts Arm’s projected capital raise from the offering between $4.5 billion and $4.9 billion.
That would by far be the biggest IPO of the year, topping the roughly $4 billion raised by Johnson & Johnson spinoff Kenvue in May.
Arm’s primary owner SoftBank will retain a 90% stake in the company, according to Tuesday’s filing, putting the estimated total valuation for the company as high as $54.5 billion.
Arm also shared Tuesday that other large tech firms like Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet and Intel have said they are interested in buying about $735 million worth of Arm shares.
Key Background
Arm does not make chips but rather makes money via royalty and licensing fees paid by manufacturers who do. The U.K.-based tech giant raked in $675 million in sales during its most recent quarter, a 2% decline year-over-year. Arm is slated to be the largest firm to go public since electric vehicle maker Rivian, which earned a blockbuster $90 billion valuation when it went public in November 2021, though Rivian’s market capitalization has since crashed to $22 billion. Despite the historic size, Arm’s valuation shared Tuesday is still far below SoftBank’s $64 billion internal valuation for the company last month, according to several reports.
Big Number
About $20 million. That’s how much each of Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Mizuho will net from the IPO, based on the 2% pool Arm has set aside to pay banks working on the IPO, according to Bloomberg, a welcome chunk of change as dealmaking slowed considerably in 2022 and 2023 after the peak pandemic-era IPO boom.
Crucial Quote
A lack of “evidence of significant growth” in sales or profits tied to artificial intelligence was the biggest surprise in Arm’s F-1 SEC filing, Bernstein analysts Sara Russo and Chris Elias wrote in a Tuesday note to clients, a nod to the recent explosion in AI interest for tech investors. Yet, “it is likely the Arm architecture is well-placed to underpin [AI and machine learning] workloads, which would enable Arm to benefit and capture value in the future,” according to the analysts.
What To Watch For
If Arm serves as a much-needed jolt for the IPO market. Grocery and digital marketing firms Instacart and Klaviyo filed last month to go public in New York.
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