ARM bought - the last global British technology company taken over by Japanese

[Deleted]

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36822806

Brexit consequences makes it a no-brainer for cherry-picking the few remaining sweet global UK-owned assets!

This is the chip maker whose designs and architecture are used or are the basis for most mobile devices and Internet of things, including the Apple iPhone.

UK technology firm ARM Holdings is to be bought by Japan's Softbank for £24bn ($32bn) it confirmed on Monday.

The board of ARM is expected to recommend shareholders accept the offer - which is around a 43% premium on its closing market value of £16.8bn on Friday.

The Cambridge-based firm designs microchips used in most smartphones, including Apple's and Samsung's.

ARM, which was founded in 1990, employs more than 3,000 people.

Shares in the UK technology firm surged by 45% at the open of the London Stock Exchange to 1,742.85p per share, adding £7.56bn to ARM's market value.
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It's hard to exaggerate just how important ARM is to the UK tech sector - and the shock many are feeling this morning at the news that it is about to lose its independence.

Its brilliance was to realise that if chips were about to come with everything, you didn't have to make them - designing them was the key.

Five years ago, Cambridge was home to at least three world-beating UK-owned technology firms, ARM, Autonomy and Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR).

Then Autonomy was swallowed up by HP in an ill-fated deal, last year the chipmaker Qualcomm bought CSR, and now the biggest and best, ARM, is about to have a Japanese owner.

And in Softbank, ARM may well have found a good parent.The Japanese firm bought France's Aldebaran robotics business and has gone on to give it a global profile.

But there will still be sadness this morning in Cambridge, and beyond, that Britain's best hope of building a global technology giant now appears to have gone.
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However, the co-founder of ARM Hermann Hauser said: "This is a sad day for me and a sad day for technology in Britain."
"ARM is the last British [technology] company that has a global reach," he said. "It gave Britain real strength. It was a British company that determined the next generation microprocessor architecture."
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ARM Holdings is arguably the most precious jewel in the crown of British technology, its microchip designs are used in billions of devices.

Sources close to the deal say the Japanese company considers ARM well placed to exploit the so called "internet of things" which may see microchips embedded in whole new categories of household and business devices.

Prime Minister Theresa May recently questioned whether foreign takeovers of UK firms are always in the national interest. However, Softbank has committed to doubling the size of ARM's UK-based workforce over the next five years and new Chancellor Philip Hammond welcomed the deal.

That allure has been boosted by the fall in the value of the pound since Brexit - making UK targets cheaper and many industry watchers are predicting a new wave of foreign takeovers.

ARM has until recently argued that its future was better served as an independent company. However, Stuart Chambers, ARM chairman since March 2014, is no stranger to making it big in Japan. He was responsible for selling Pilkington, another blue chip UK company, to Nippon Sheet Glass in 2006.
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Dan Ridsdale, analyst at Edison Investment Research, said "An increase in inbound merger and acquisition activity was one of the obvious consequences of Brexit and weakened sterling, but few expected it to manifest itself so quickly or at so large a scale."

Former Business Secretary Vince Cable told the BBC there was usually very little the government could do to prevent takeovers.
"We don't have a system of defence against takeovers if they prove to be unsatisfactory," he said.

Mr Cable added the government had few legal powers to stop takeovers unless it could be demonstrated there was a national security issue.

[Kujako]

iPhone is not ARM.... frankly, not much is anymore. ARM kind of fell behind in the last few years.

[Puupi]

Last?

You mean latest​?

[Vash The Stampede]

I blame Brexit.

iPhone is not ARM.... frankly, not much is anymore. ARM kind of fell behind in the last few years.

But they still use the ARM architecture. So Apple still has to pay a license.

[Deleted]

Last?

You mean latest​?

Name another British-owned global tech company. If there are any left at all, they are certainly nowhere near the size of ARM.

[Kujako]

But they still use the ARM architecture. So Apple still has to pay a license.

Not since the A6.

[Deleted]

That akward moment when OP thinks new tech companies cant spring up and current ones cant fall and die.

[GennGreymane]

That akward moment when OP thinks new tech companies cant spring up and current ones cant fall and die.

Well Ireland is a tech center, not the UK.

[Deleted]

That akward moment when OP thinks new tech companies cant spring up and current ones cant fall and die.

Well they can't at the moment, realistically. Because of the instability in the economy, investment in the UK will be extremely limited for a few years to come.

[Tijuana]

You can have any investments I have when you are paying 143% of the stock value. This is a no brainier for their shareholders.

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That akward moment when OP thinks new tech companies cant spring up and current ones cant fall and die.

Motorola called to ask if you remember them and how they made apple processors for like 20 years. I hear they still make a damn fine walkie talkie though.

[Deleted]

Well Softbank has dope commercials so whatcha gonna do?

[Kalis]

Well Ireland is a tech center, not the UK.

The UK tech industry is roughly similar in size to the entire Irish economy.

[GennGreymane]

The UK tech industry is roughly similar in size to the entire Irish economy.

But Ireland is growing.
It has a lower tax rate, E.U access for a long time to come, and likely are as qualified as anyone from the UK. Its just a better idea to start there than in the UK.

[Tijuana]

Softbank bought a local giant in my town, Sprint. And nothing really happened. Their huge campus is still buzzing away with half the town working there.

[glo]

Not since the A6.

It most certainly still is ARM. ARMv8 to be exact.

[Venant]

You do realize that the ARM deal was in the works long before Brexit right? Deals like this often take many months if not years to complete, you couldn't even do proper due diligence on a deal like this in the few weeks since the Brexit vote.

Furthermore, most countries reserve the right to block deals that they consider to go against the interests of the nation.

[Kalis]

But Ireland is growing.
It has a lower tax rate, E.U access for a long time to come, and likely are as qualified as anyone from the UK. Its just a better idea to start there than in the UK.

Ireland is a tiny economy in comparison to the UK, not much over 5% of the size, so not really.

[GennGreymane]

Ireland is a tiny economy in comparison to the UK, not much over 5% of the size, so not really.

Economy size may not matter in terms of starting up, especially if you can make it big in a growing industry rather than stagnate in an established industry.

[Independent voter]

7/11's are big in the US. Japanese owned or they used to be.

Corporations change hands all the time. Blizzard was owned by a French company not long ago.

[Deletedaccount1]

This probably has nothing to do with Brexit. If currency exchanges matter then the fact that the Yen is doing very well right now is probably more likely the cause.