*This content was translated by AI.
Hong Ra-hee, Honorary Director of the Leeum Museum of Samsung Art, plans to sell approximately 1.9 trillion won worth of Samsung Electronics shares to Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, in order to repay loans taken out to pay inheritance taxes.
According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 9th, Lee (Chairman) plans to purchase 7,188,793 ordinary shares of Samsung Electronics from Honorary Director Hong through an over-the-counter transaction. The scheduled trading date is next month on the 12th. With this, the Samsung family's burden of '12 trillion won in inheritance taxes,' which has continued for more than five years since the passing of the late Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Seon Dae (Chairman), is effectively nearing its conclusion.
The planned price per share is 269,500 won. Based on the closing price of Samsung Electronics shares on the 8th, the total transaction value would be approximately 1.9374 trillion won. The actual transaction price and quantity may vary.
This transaction is intended to repay loans incurred during the inheritance tax payment process.
According to Samsung, Honorary Director Hong received a loan from financial institutional investors during the inheritance tax payment process. She plans to repay this loan by selling Samsung Electronics shares in this transaction.
In particular, this transaction will be conducted through an over-the-counter method to prevent a large volume of shares from being dumped into the stock market all at once. It is explained that Lee (Chairman) chose to directly purchase the shares because if Honorary Director Hong were to sell a large number of her holdings on the market, it could put downward pressure on Samsung Electronics' stock price.
The background of this transaction lies in the inheritance tax payments made by the Samsung family, which began after the passing of Lee Seon Dae (Chairman) in October 2020.
The inheritance taxes imposed on family members, including Honorary Director Hong, Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hotel Shilla President Lee Boo-jin, and Samsung Materials & Trading President Lee Seo-hyun, amounted to approximately 12 trillion won. Instead of paying the massive tax burden all at once, the family members opted for an installment payment plan, spreading the payments over five years starting in 2021.
To secure funds for inheritance taxes, the Samsung family utilized dividends and loans from financial institutional investors, while also selling their holdings multiple times.
If this transaction proceeds as scheduled, Lee (Chairman)'s holdings of Samsung Electronics shares will increase from 97,551,953 shares to 104,746,746 shares. The ownership stake will rise from 1.47% to 1.58%, an increase of 0.11 percentage points.
Meanwhile, regarding this transaction, the market is also focusing on what significance Lee (Chairman)'s expansion of its Samsung Electronics stake holds for Samsung's corporate governance structure.
On the surface, it appears that Lee (Chairman) is increasing its ownership stake by purchasing a large number of Samsung Electronics shares from his mother, Honorary Director Hong.
However, Samsung has stated that interpreting this transaction as an effort to strengthen Lee (Chairman)'s control is inappropriate.
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*This content was translated by AI.
