Largest-ever purchase of European tech company

SoftBank has acquired chip designer ARM Holdings for £23.4bn (€28bn), as the Japanese telecoms giant bolsters its presence in the growing Internet of Things sector. The deal will see heavily-indebted SoftBank pay £17 in cash for each share in ARM, a 43% premium to its closing price last week, marking the largest ever purchase of a European technology company.

Masayoshi Son, the founder and chairman of SoftBank indicated earlier this year that he was thinking big and had a $40bn war chest. Japan's third biggest telecoms company wants to become a “global powerhouse” and this acquisition is part of a bet on IoT and AI.