Saudi Arabia Acquires 5% Stake in Capcom

gamerant.com:

Over the last few years, Saudi Arabia has shown it has an increasing desire to diversify its investment portfolio within the video game industry. Its latest investment in both Capcom and Nexon is said to be valued at over 1 billion.

According to Bloomberg, the 5% purchase of Capcom is valued at approximately $332 million at current stock prices, while the 5.02% in Nexon is valued at roughly $883 million. Capcom is known for its Monster Hunter and Resident Evil franchises, while Koren-based Nexon is best known for Dungeon Fighter and its online RPG MapleStory. These stock purchases are being described as «pure investment» opportunities as opposed to any preliminary takeover moves. Shares in Osaka-based Capcom rose as much as 1.7% after the announcement, while Nexon shares rose more than 3% in Tokyo trading.

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Saudi Arabia is using its «Public Investment Fund» (known as PIF), a $500 billion sovereign wealth fund used to diversify the nation's economy beyond just oil and gas, to purchase the shares. The PIF is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with the goal «to create new sectors, companies, and jobs» within the nation, and is chaired by the controversial Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Over the last few years the PIF has invested in Electronic Arts Inc., Take Two Interactive Software Inc., and through PIF subsidiary Savvy bought two of the largest Esports leagues in the world (ESL and FACEIT) for a combined price of $1.5 billion. These two have since merged into a single organization called ESL FACEIT Group.

The Public Investment Fund has set aside approximately $10 billion to buy additional global stocks. It already has stakes in Uber, Live Nation