Mysterious Firm Seeks To Buy Majority Stake In Arm China (theregister.com) 9
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: The saga surrounding Arm's joint venture in China just took another intriguing turn: a mysterious firm named Lotcap Group claims it has signed a letter of intent to buy a 51 percent stake in Arm China from existing investors in the country. In a Chinese-language press release posted Wednesday, Lotcap said it has formed a subsidiary, Lotcap Fund, to buy a majority stake in the joint venture. However, reporting by one newspaper suggested that the investment firm still needs the approval of one significant investor to gain 51 percent control of Arm China.
The development comes a couple of weeks after Arm China said that its former CEO, Allen Wu, was refusing once again to step down from his position, despite the company's board voting in late April to replace Wu with two co-chief executives. SoftBank Group, which owns 49 percent of the Chinese venture, has been trying to unentangle Arm China from Wu as the Japanese tech investment giant plans for an initial public offering of the British parent company. According to the South China Morning Post, Lotcap claimed in the press release that its proposed deal has "support" from Arm. We asked Arm about this, and despite a spokesperson saying in an email to The Register that the British chip designer is "not commenting at this time," the representative did say that an updated press release from Lotcap does not mention Arm or SoftBank supporting Lotcap's deal.
The development comes a couple of weeks after Arm China said that its former CEO, Allen Wu, was refusing once again to step down from his position, despite the company's board voting in late April to replace Wu with two co-chief executives. SoftBank Group, which owns 49 percent of the Chinese venture, has been trying to unentangle Arm China from Wu as the Japanese tech investment giant plans for an initial public offering of the British parent company. According to the South China Morning Post, Lotcap claimed in the press release that its proposed deal has "support" from Arm. We asked Arm about this, and despite a spokesperson saying in an email to The Register that the British chip designer is "not commenting at this time," the representative did say that an updated press release from Lotcap does not mention Arm or SoftBank supporting Lotcap's deal.
Would that cost less than $44 billion? (Score:3)
...If so, I have an idea of who it might be.
Re: Would that cost less than $44 billion? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If the authorities suddenly discover they don't need that chop Wu won't let go of, that'll tell us a lot.
The Chinese Constitution calls for equal protection under the law for *Chinese citizens*. It does not say anything about foreign investors ... not that that would make any difference, In effect all Chinese citizens receive equal protection under the law, which is to say none where the party's priorities are concerned.
Re:49% minority owner wanted to take control? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Could be. Right now things are pretty chaotic over there, and there is some fear of capital flight. So it's about time for some reassuring news for foreign investors.
What in a name (Score:2)
Russians? (Score:2)