Shares of Nintendo rose as much as 3.9% after a senior executive at Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund told local media it was considering increasing its stakes in Japanese gaming companies.
The stock rose the most in more than a week, outperforming the market, after Kyodo News reported that the Arabian Gulf country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) was considering deploying more capital to Nintendo and its peers. Prince Faisal bin Bandar, vice chairman of PIF subsidiary Savvy Games Group, said he would prefer to make such a move with the support of the companies themselves.
The Saudi government is keen to transform the kingdom into a global player in the gaming industry and diversify a portfolio heavily dependent on oil. It is betting $38 billion on the country’s potential to become the next hub for the video game industry, and has made bets on Japanese and South Korean content providers. It has presented itself as a long-term investor with the patience to wait out fallow periods in a volatile sector where consequences are never certain.
