The time of large transactions continues. Public Investment Fund (PIF, aka Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund) has acquired stakes in two Japanese companies — Capcom and Nexon. In total, he spent more than $1 billion on their purchase.
A 5% stake in Capcom holding, which is known for the Street Fighter and Resident Evil series, cost the Arabs $ 332 million.
For 5.02% in Nexon, which is strong in MapleStory and Dungeon&Fighter, PIF representatives paid $883 million.
The fund assures that these investments are exclusively of an investment nature. And, most likely, it is. At least, this is evidenced by the nature of PIF’s previous investments in gaming companies.
Earlier, he invested in Activision Blizzard (now Microsoft has bought these shares). The foundation also has stakes in Electronic Arts and Take Two.
According to Bloomberg, the shares of both gaming companies went up after the news of this. Capcom’s positions increased by 1.7%, and Nexon — by 3%.
The Sovereign Fund of Saudi Arabia is headed by Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Crown Prince of the state. Last month it became known that the PIF decided to allocate $10 billion to purchase shares related to e-commerce and renewable resources. It is possible that the current deal is just part of this strategy.