The subscription to Arm Holdings Ltd’s initial public offering (IPO) has already exceeded the offering by 10 times, and the banks responsible for the operation plan to close the order book on Tuesday afternoon, a day earlier than planned, according to people familiar with the matter.
Arm, controlled by SoftBank Group Corp, will close its order book on Tuesday but still plans to set the price of its shares on Wednesday, as per the initial schedule, sources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is private. It is not uncommon for books to close early in an IPO, which usually indicates strong demand.
The offering could be up to 15 times oversubscribed by Wednesday, the people added. Nothing is finalized, and IPO orders can always change. The Financial Times had previously reported that Arm’s order book would close earlier.
A representative for Arm declined to comment. This information is from Bloomberg.
Arm is still considering increasing the price range of its initial public offering as well, Bloomberg News previously reported. Arm filed for an IPO priced between $47 and $51 per share, which could value the company at $54.5 billion at the upper end of the range.
SoftBank’s shares rose as much as 3.8% during morning trading in Tokyo, heading for their third consecutive day of gains. The shares have gained about 20% since the beginning of the year.
Arm, a critical part of the chip supply chain, designs semiconductors found in most of the world’s smartphones. Previously, the company sought to be valued at $60 billion to $70 billion in the IPO. SoftBank bought its stake in Arm from the Vision Fund at an evaluation of over $64 billion. After the IPO, SoftBank will control around 90% of Arm’s shares, leaving a limited number of shares available for trading on the market.
A successful Arm debut would provide an unexpected gain for SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, whose Vision Fund lost a record $30 billion last year. Additionally, Arm’s listing could revitalize the U.S. IPO market, with companies like food delivery firm Instacart Inc. and marketing automation and data provider Klaviyo Inc. among those ready to conduct their first stock sales.