SoftBank’s Arm valued at $54.5 billion in year’s biggest IPO

By Echo Wang and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chip designer Arm Holdings Plc secured a $54.5 billion valuation in its U.S. initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday, seven years after its owner SoftBank Group Corp took the company private for $32 billion.

The IPO represents a climb-down from the $64 billion valuation at which SoftBank last month acquired the 25% stake it did not already own in the company from the $100 billion Vision Fund it manages.

Yet even with this lower valuation,…