Arm Holdings Ltd.’s initial public offering is already oversubscribed by 10 times and bankers plan to stop taking orders by Tuesday afternoon, according to people familiar with the matter.
Arm, controlled by SoftBank Group Corp., will close its order book a day early on Tuesday, but is still planning to price its shares on Wednesday, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. It’s not uncommon for books to close early on an IPO, which often indicates strong demand.
The offering could end up as much as 15 times oversubscribed by Wednesday, the people added. Nothing is finalized and the IPO orders could always change. The Financial Times previously reported that the Arm order book would close early.
A representative for Arm declined to comment.
Arm is still considering raising the price range of its initial public offering as well, Bloomberg News previously reported. Arm filed for its IPO at US$47 ($63.96) to US$51 a share, which could value the company at US$54.5 billion at the high end of the range.
SoftBank shares rose as much as 3.8% during morning trade in Tokyo, headed for their third straight day of gains. The stock is up about 20% since the start of the year.
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Arm — which is a key part of the chip supply chain, designing semiconductors found in most of the world’s smartphones — earlier had sought to be valued at US$60 billion to US$70 billion in the IPO. SoftBank bought the Vision Fund’s stake in Arm at a valuation of more than US$64 billion. After the IPO, SoftBank will control about 90% of Arm’s shares, leaving a limited free float in the market.
A successful debut by Arm would provide a windfall for SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, whose Vision Fund lost a record US$30 billion last year. The listing could also revitalize the US IPO market, with online grocery-delivery firm Instacart Inc. and marketing and data automation provider Klaviyo Inc. among those ready to pursue their first-time share sales.
