The crown prince of Saudi Arabia’s flagship charity has bought a third of Japanese game company SNK – and it’s shooting for more.
The 813m riyals (£162m) investment from a subsidiary of the Mohammed bin Salman Charitable Foundation “Misk” charity amounts to 33.3 per cent of SNK’s shares, and values the company at around £490m. In a note to press, Misk said the deal stipulates it will buy another 17.7 per cent of SNK’s shares, raiding its ownership to 51 per cent. That’ll give it a majority shareholding.
The Misk foundation has been central to Mohammed bin Salman’s drive to extend his brand overseas, and this investment is another move in that direction. But it is sure to attract criticism. The assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was attributed to Salman by the CIA, and Saudi Arabia has a notoriously poor human rights record, with homosexuality still criminalised with punishments ranging from floggings to the death penalty.
