Ex-ARM chairman Chambers in rapid tech return with VE role

The former chairman of ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) , the British chip designer sold this year in a £24bn deal, is making a rapid return to the technology sector with a new role at a fast-growing software company.

Sky News has learnt that Ve Interactive, which is privately owned, will announce on Monday that it has recruited Stuart Chambers as its chairman.

The recruitment of Mr Chambers is a coup for Ve, which produces software that helps online retailers improve their sales conversion performance.

Ve's clients, which number more than 10,000, include the likes of Sabre Holdings, a technology supplier to the global online travel sector.

The company, which was launched by chief executive David Brown in 2009, has grown at an extraordinary rate, and now employs more than 850 people at 36 offices around the world.

Ve's revenue growth has also been impressive amid growing demand from online retailers seeking to reduce the number of customers who abandon their purchases at the 'shopping cart' stage.

Mr Chambers is among the UK's most prominent boardroom figures, having overseen bumper takeovers of ARM Holdings and the other FTSE-100 company he chaired, packaging manufacturer Rexam (Other OTC: REXMY - news) .

The takeover of ARM, which designs chips for customers including Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , was announced just weeks after Theresa May's installation as Prime Minister heralded a pledge to scrutinise foreign purchases of British companies.

Softbank (Swiss: SOFB.SW - news) , ARM's acquirer, has committed to increasing investment in the Cambridge-based company's workforce and research operations, while many shareholders greeted the takeover with enthusiasm for the price negotiated by Mr Chambers and his boardroom colleagues.

Mr Chambers is also a former board member of Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) , while his last executive job was in the glass-manufacturing industry, where he oversaw the sale of Pilkington to Nippon Sheet Glass (Other OTC: NPSGF - news) before stepping down from the Japanese company in 2010.

A Ve spokesman declined to comment on Sunday, while Mr Chambers could not be reached.