LONDON: Japanese mobile giant SoftBank has agreed a takeover of British chip designer ARM Holdings worth around £24.3 billion ($32 billion, 29 billion euros), the pair announced Monday.
"We have long admired ARM as a world renowned and highly respected technology company that is by some distance the market-leader in its field," SoftBank chairman and chief executive Masayoshi Son said in a joint statement, in a major investment boost for Britain following Brexit.
Son added that the deal marked SoftBank's "strong commitment to the UK and the competitive advantage provided by the deep pool of science and technology talent" in the university city of Cambridge where ARM is headquartered.
Britain's new finance minister Philip Hammond praised the mega deal that comes amid warnings about a slowdown to growth in the country after its vote last month to exit the European Union.
"This £24 billion investment would be the largest ever from Asia into the UK," Hammond said in a separate statement.
"It would guarantee to double the number of jobs in ARM in the UK over the next five years and turn this great British company into a global phenomenon.
"Just three weeks after the referendum decision, it shows that Britain has lost none of its allure to international investors. Britain is open for business -- and open to foreign investment," said Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond.
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