Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has purchased a 5.01 percent stake in Nintendo.
According to a report from Bloomberg, PIF said the deal was struck for investment purposes. The move makes PIF the fifth-largest shareholder in the Japanese console maker.
PIF is chaired by the crown prince and deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud, who has been linked with the assassination of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and accused of torturing human rights activists and establishing an authoritarian regime.
Nintendo said it only learned about the investment from news reports and that it wouldn’t be commenting on individual shareholders.
PIF has previously invested in other Japanese game companies including Capcom and Nexon, grabbing stakes of more than 5 percent in both firms.
It also grabbed $3 billion worth of stock in Activision Blizzard, EA, and Take-Two Interactive in February 2021.
The PIF website states the fund was established to drive the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s economy for “positive and sustainable change.”