Saudi Fund Trims Nintendo Stake While Saying It Wants More

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund disclosed it’s sold down its stake in Nintendo Co., days after a senior executive said it was weighing deploying more capital into the Kyoto-based games company.

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The Gulf country’s Public Investment Fund sold about 17.3 million shares of the creator of Super Mario Bros. franchise between Aug. 21 and Oct. 1, lowering its stake in the company to 7.54% from 8.58%, according to a filing to Japan’s Finance Ministry on Tuesday. Nintendo’s shares had jumped the previous day after Kyodo News reported that PIF was considering increasing its holding, quoting Prince Faisal bin Bandar, vice chairman of PIF subsidiary Savvy Games Group, in an interview dated Sept. 26.

Shares of Nintendo closed down 0.6%, broadly in line with the Nikkei 225 Stock Average.

“We don’t think there’s been a change in the Saudis’ desire to build its own entertainment industry,” said Tomoaki Kawasaki, senior analyst at Iwaicosmo Securities. Many funds need to make adjustments to their portfolio to reflect changing market value, and that might have been the case here he said, but added, “In truth, we can’t know for sure.”

The Saudi government has been buying up stakes in Japanese and Korean gaming companies in a broader $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 has been widely seen as a long-term investor, seeking strategic partnerships rather than short-term equity gains.

PIF, which had around $760 billion in assets under management at the end of last year, remains one of Nintendo’s biggest shareholders, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It also has stakes in Tokyo-listed Nexon Co. as well as Capcom Co. and Koei Tecmo Holdings Co.

(Updates with analyst commentary)

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