The prime minister and chancellor hope to revive talks with SoftBank, which is said to have halted plans to explore a London listing after political turmoil as Boris Johnson resigned. SoftBank has made no secret of its preference to list in the US, where valuations make New York the financial center of choice for most of the world’s biggest tech companies. In February, Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank, snubbed the UK, naming Nasdaq when he detailed plans to turn to the back-up plan of an Arm trade after a $40bn (£34bn) takeover deal collapsed. California-based rival Nvidia. But the UK government and senior London Stock Exchange officials continued to press SoftBank, which in June indicated the capital could still be in the works but was not the “main preference”. While the lobbying effort had focused on Arm having its primary listing in the UK – where it would be the biggest tech company – Arm was a member of the FTSE 100 for 18 years before being bought by SoftBank for £24bn in 2016 with double import on both sides of the Atlantic. According to the Financial Times, the government is expected to push for a resumption of talks to push for at least dual entry into the UK after the end of the mourning period and the Queen’s funeral next week. The lobbying effort was led by Gerry Grimstone, the former investment minister. However, he left the government after Johnson’s resignation. Chris Philp, the former digital technology minister who was also part of the charm offensive, now works alongside Kwarteng as chief secretary to the Treasury. Subscribe to Business Today Get ready for the business day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. SoftBank must make a final decision on its float plans before Christmas if the company wants to stick with a plan to float Arm possibly in the first quarter of next year.
