3 ms·

I wondered the same thing. Isn't it already a Japanese company now via Softbank? Can the UK actually halt this transaction in any way?

est31 6y ago
Not a lawyer, but there is a UK legal entity with the Arm name still. It might be owned by Softbank but that doesn't change the fact that it's an UK company bound by UK laws.
- wcerfgba 6y ago
  Correct, the company is registered in the UK: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/02557590 https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/02557590
inopinatus 6y ago
Arm Ltd remains incorporated in the UK. Softbank did not strip or transfer the assets. The transfer of ownership is subject to UK law. Given the activities and size of the firm, the sale could be halted by ministerial intervention. That said, I think such intervention is unlikely. UK law on overseas M&A is very open. Britain has a long-standing policy of encouraging foreign acquisitions, since it encourages inward investment and keeps the City of London relevant and flourishing as a major financial center. Many members of the ruling parties have personal and financial connections therein, and the UK's fraught divorce from the EU elevates the risks to London's ongoing relevance, so the incentives are skewed in favour of this sale. The core of British trade policy is financial services i.e. invisible trade, not manufacturing, since competing on a playing field of physical scale (such as with manufacturing) is problematic for a small island nation. R&D is tolerated since it creates realisable value from (and for) the higher education sector, without dependence on a locally integrated manufacturing base. ARM itself is a microcosm of that strategy, designing chips but not making them; but by the same token, the value of that research was already fully realised by Softbank's acquisition.

3 ms·

I wondered the same thing. Isn't it already a Japanese company now via Softbank? Can the UK actually halt this transaction in any way?

by azinman2 6y ago

est31 6y ago
Not a lawyer, but there is a UK legal entity with the Arm name still. It might be owned by Softbank but that doesn't change the fact that it's an UK company bound by UK laws.
- wcerfgba 6y ago
  Correct, the company is registered in the UK: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/02557590 https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/02557590
inopinatus 6y ago
Arm Ltd remains incorporated in the UK. Softbank did not strip or transfer the assets. The transfer of ownership is subject to UK law. Given the activities and size of the firm, the sale could be halted by ministerial intervention. That said, I think such intervention is unlikely. UK law on overseas M&A is very open. Britain has a long-standing policy of encouraging foreign acquisitions, since it encourages inward investment and keeps the City of London relevant and flourishing as a major financial center. Many members of the ruling parties have personal and financial connections therein, and the UK's fraught divorce from the EU elevates the risks to London's ongoing relevance, so the incentives are skewed in favour of this sale. The core of British trade policy is financial services i.e. invisible trade, not manufacturing, since competing on a playing field of physical scale (such as with manufacturing) is problematic for a small island nation. R&D is tolerated since it creates realisable value from (and for) the higher education sector, without dependence on a locally integrated manufacturing base. ARM itself is a microcosm of that strategy, designing chips but not making them; but by the same token, the value of that research was already fully realised by Softbank's acquisition.