Saudi fund trims Nintendo stake after saying it wants more

Its ownership in the company falls to 7.54% from 8.58%, a filing to Japan’s finance ministry shows

SAUDI Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has disclosed that it sold down its stake in Nintendo, days after a senior executive said it was considering deploying more capital into the Kyoto-based game company.

The Arab Gulf country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has sold about 17.3 million shares of the creator of the Super Mario Bros franchise between Aug 21 and Oct 1.

This lowered its stake in the company to 7.54 per cent from 8.58 per cent, a filing to Japan’s finance ministry showed on Tuesday (Oct 8).

Nintendo’s shares had jumped the previous day. This came after it was reported that PIF was weighing increasing its holding, quoting Prince Faisal bin Bandar, vice-chairman of PIF subsidiary Savvy Games.

Shares of Nintendo closed 0.6 per cent lower, broadly in line with the Nikkei 225 stock average.

The Saudi government has been buying up stakes in Japanese and Korean gaming companies, part of a US$38 billion push to lower the kingdom’s reliance on oil and create an entertainment and video-games hub in the Middle East.

The sovereign wealth fund had about US$760 billion in assets under management at the end of last year. It remains one of Nintendo’s biggest shareholders, indicated Bloomberg data.

PIF also has stakes in Tokyo-listed Nexon, as well as Capcom and Koei Tecmo. BLOOMBERG