Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong Inherits Half of Samsung Life Insurance Shares... Becomes Second Largest Shareholder

Lee Jae-yong, Lee Boo-jin, and Lee Seo-hyun Inherit in a 3:2:1 Ratio

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong has inherited nearly half of the Samsung Life Insurance shares held by the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee. This is being evaluated as strengthening Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's control over Samsung Electronics.

According to Samsung Life Insurance on the 1st, through the disclosure of the largest shareholder's stock ownership change report the previous day, it was announced that out of Chairman Lee's 41,519,180 shares, 20,879,591 shares will be inherited by Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, and Lee Seo-hyun, Director of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, inherited 13,839,726 shares and 6,919,863 shares respectively. The ratio is 3:2:1. Chairman Lee's wife, Hong Ra-hee, was excluded from the inheritance.

With this share inheritance, the largest shareholder of Samsung Life Insurance changed from Chairman Lee to Samsung C&T Corporation (19.34%). Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's stake in Samsung Life Insurance rose from the previous 0.06% to 10.44%, making him the second-largest shareholder and the largest individual shareholder of Samsung Life Insurance. President Lee Boo-jin and Director Lee Seo-hyun secured 6.92% and 3.46% stakes respectively.

The Samsung Group has a governance structure that goes from 'Samsung C&T → Samsung Life Insurance → Samsung Electronics.' Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the largest shareholder of Samsung C&T, indirectly controls Samsung Electronics through C&T and Life Insurance. Analysts say that by inheriting half of Chairman Lee's Samsung Life Insurance shares, Vice Chairman Lee has strengthened his control over Samsung Electronics.

However, there are concerns that the 'Insurance Business Act Amendment Bill' pending in the National Assembly could act as a variable. The amendment aims to change the evaluation of securities held by insurance companies from the current 'acquisition cost' basis to a 'market price' basis. Although the limit for financial companies to hold stocks and bonds of affiliates up to 3% of total assets remains unchanged from current law, the change to market price evaluation could become a variable. If the amendment passes, Samsung Life Insurance may have to sell some of its Samsung Electronics shares.

Meanwhile, the Samsung Electronics shares held by Chairman Lee will be inherited according to the legal inheritance ratio. Accordingly, Hong Ra-hee will receive 2.30%, Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong 1.63%, and President Lee Boo-jin and Director Lee Seo-hyun will each receive 0.93%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.