SoftBank shares fall 5.5% while relations with Saudi Arabia worried

TOKYO (Reuters) – SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) lost 5.5% on Monday, weighed down by worries about its ties to Saudi Arabia and a sell-off in the markets.

Saudi Arabia, which largely financed the SoftBank Vision fund, is seeing an increasing number of participants pull out of the Davos in the Desert Investment Conference after the disappearance of a reputed Saudi journalist.

"Concerns about Saudi involvement in the disappearance of the journalist raising doubts, the share price of SoftBank reacts negatively," said Takashi Oikawa, an analyst at Ichiyoshi Securities.

The benchmark, the N225, fell 1.4% in morning trading in Tokyo as investors worried about Canada-US trade disputes and a possible slowdown Chinese economy.

With its links to Saudi Arabia, causing nervousness, the sale of SoftBank is "more psychological than anything related to concerns over its fundamentals," said Makoto Kikuchi, managing director of Myojo Asset Management.

SoftBank's influence with the CEO, Masayoshi Son, has been built through technology investments around the world. The company raised more than $ 93 billion last year to create its Vision Fund, including $ 45 billion in Saudi Arabia.

This technology exposure contributed to the volatility of SoftBank stocks over the past week as technology stocks were put under pressure to sell.

A SoftBank spokesperson has declined to confirm whether SoftBank executives are still planning to attend next week's conference, which has become the largest investor fair to promote the reform vision of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Among the senior executives of SoftBank, Son, the Fund Vision Fund founder Rajeev Misra and ARM Holdings CEO Simon Segars.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber Technologies Inc. [UBER.UL] – which is currently the biggest bet of SoftBank, declared last week that it no longer participates.