SoftBank-backed Arm's long march to nearly $60 billion Nasdaq debut

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Shares of SoftBank's Arm Holdings (ARM.O) opened 10% above their offer price in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday, giving the chip designer a valuation of nearly $60 billion in its return to the public markets after seven years.

Its stock opened at $56.10 per American Depositary Share compared with the initial public offering (IPO) price of $51, in a sign of confidence for other companies planning to list.

Arm had secured a valuation of $54.5 billion on Wednesday after pricing its IPO at the top end of the marketed range. It fetched $4.87 billion for SoftBank, which still holds a 90.6% stake.

Below is a timeline of key events:

Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Maju Samuel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.