SoftBank owned arm IPO’s valuations pitched at $30 to 70 billion

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp.

As Arm Ltd. prepares for a highly-anticipated initial public offering this year, global investment banks are pitching a yawning range of valuations for the chip designer, from $30 billion to $70 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The current range puts the median value of the deal at around $50 billion, a target that’s been touted by multiple bankers, according to the people. Parent company SoftBank Group Corp. had been seeking a $60 billion valuation last year, Bloomberg News previously reported.

The wide range underlines the challenges of valuing the firm against a backdrop of volatile semiconductor equity prices, as well as bankers’ efforts to impress a potential client as they vie for what could be the most coveted IPO deal in years. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said in February last year that he wants Arm’s debut to be “the biggest” in the history of the semiconductor industry.

SoftBank, which owns Arm, is poised to appoint banks to lead the transaction as soon as this month, and its choices include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Barclays Plc, the people said. It seeks to price the IPO at the end of the summer and then complete the offering later this year, they added.

A SoftBank spokesperson didn’t immediately comment.

Arm has decided against selling shares on the London Stock Exchange for now, dealing a blow to UK politicians who were lobbying the home-grown technology giant ahead of its IPO, Bloomberg News reported earlier. Arm later confirmed the decision favoring a Nasdaq listing.

The re-listing of Arm, which had traded on the London exchange prior to SoftBank l’s 2016 acquisition, is expected to be a big windfall for Son and the world’s biggest technology investor.

Arm is estimated to be worth about $37 billion and anything above that would represent a gain, Kirk Boodry, a Redex Research analyst who publishes on Smartkarma, wrote in a note dated Feb. 1. The IPO will be “positive even without a valuation pop,” he said.