Asia-Pacific Stocks Rise with Softbank’s Arm Sale

Asian stocks will start the week right following the announcement of Softbank’s decision to sell its British semiconductor investment Arm Holdings to Nvidia.

Shares of Softbank Group surged 8.92% on Monday’s stock market open.

In East Asia, all other major market indexes moved up.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.65% as the technology investor continues to put on weight into the index being Nikkei’s second-heaviest weighted stock. The Topix index also added 0.84%.

Meanwhile, developments in Japanese internal politics also affect the market’s movement as they search for the successor of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe continues.

South Korea’s KOSPI jumped by 1.23% while Mainland Chinese stock market also recorded significant highs.

Shanghai Composite moved up by 0.26% while the Shenzhen component also followed the upward trend, adding 0.484%.

Hongkong’s Hang Seng also went up by 0.44%.

Chipmaker Nvidia agreed to buy Arm Holdings from the Softbank for $40 billion worth of cash-and-stocks stake.

The deal will include a $12 billion in cash, $21.5 billion worth stake in Nvidia stocks and a $2 billion signing pay.

Softbank Ventures Ready for a Shift

The market will see a major shakeup in Softbank ventures after the Arm Holdings sale.

Along with the deal, the company’s executives revived discussions on making Softbank private. This is due to the series of setbacks brought by big asset disposals in recent years.

This will change the course of the firm’s long-term business strategy, which has experienced significant changes since the firm launched the $100 billion vision fund portfolio.

According to insiders, the Japanese tech firm will shift to become a more-immersed market investor and asset manager. Rather than a direct business operator as it has always positioned itself in the last 39 years.

The potential delisting of Softbank as a publicly-traded firm will pose a painful blow in the Tokyo stock market, should executives go ahead as planned.