City watchdog may ‘ease rules’ in order to secure $40bn Arm listing

The City watchdog is considering easing rules in an attempt to win the $40bn (£34bn) listing of Cambridge-based technology firm Arm Holdings, it has been reported.

Officials are said to be locked in talks in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the semiconductor chip-maker’s Japanese owner SoftBank to consider a dual listing on the London Stock Exchange alongside New York’s Nasdaq technology market, according to the Sunday Times.

Arm is said to be concerned that rules on “related party transactions” would require it to report on any dealings with either its owner SoftBank or the hundreds of other companies in which the Japanese investment firm has a stake.

Officials from the Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates financial markets, are reported to have offered to ease the rules, possibly the first such move since a failed attempt to win the flotation of state-backed oil company Saudi Aramco in 2017 by then prime minister Theresa May.

Arm wrote to private shareholders last year saying its initial public offering (IPO) would not take place until well into this year, scotching hopes that it would float by the end of March.

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