Arm is planning to transfer shares in its unwieldy China joint venture to a SoftBank special purpose vehicle in a bid to speed up the UK chip designer’s path to a New York flotation.
The British company has struggled to regain control of its China business for almost two years. Its inability to audit the financials of the unit, which contributed about one-fifth of revenue last year, is a big sticking point for a blockbuster public offering desired by owner SoftBank following the collapse of Arm’s $66bn sale to Nvidia last month.
The share transfer, if successfully completed, will leave the China joint venture tied to Arm headquarters through a licensing agreement, instead of the 47.3 per cent equity stake it holds today, according to two people briefed on the matter.