Samsung Electronics Major Shareholder Block Deal Worth 1.3 Trillion Won... Securing Funds for Inheritance Tax Payment (Comprehensive)

[Analysis by Im Hee-jin]

[Asia Economy Reporters Park Soyeon and Park Hyungsu] KB Kookmin Bank has sold Samsung Electronics shares worth 1.3 trillion won. The industry interprets this as a move to secure funds for the Samsung Group owner's family to pay inheritance taxes.

According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 24th, Kookmin Bank conducted a block deal (large volume trading outside regular hours) targeting institutional investors for 19,941,860 shares of Samsung Electronics held as of the previous day. This represents 0.33% of Samsung Electronics shares, amounting to approximately 1.372 trillion won.

Last September, former Leeum Museum Director Hong Ra-hee signed a trust contract with KB Securities for the sale of 0.33% of Samsung Electronics shares, and it is known that these shares were traded.

The per-share sale price of former Director Hong's shares was set at 68,800 won, a 2.4% discount from the previous day's closing price of 70,500 won. The block deal was managed by KB Securities, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan.

Market experts expect the impact of this block deal on the market to be minimal.

Lee Min-hee, a researcher at BNK Investment & Securities, said, "Since the stake is 0.33% and the discount rate is not large, there should be no problem absorbing it. Previously, Samsung SDS had a large volume and a high discount rate, which affected the stock price, but this time it is unlikely to have a significant impact on the stock price."

As of 10:25 a.m. on the same day, Samsung Electronics was trading at 69,800 won on the Korea Exchange, down 700 won (0.99%) from the previous day. The market capitalization stands at 416.6908 trillion won.

This is not the first time a large block deal has occurred among Samsung Group stocks. Last December, Lee Seo-hyun, director of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, sold half (1.73%) of her 3.46% stake in Samsung Life Insurance. Earlier this month, on the 22nd, Lee Boo-jin, president of Hotel Shilla, and Lee Seo-hyun each sold 1,509,430 shares of Samsung SDS (worth 190 billion won each), raising a total of 390 billion won in cash. This was also seen as a large-scale share sale to secure funds for inheritance tax payments.

Financial investment industry experts are paying attention to the possibility of additional sales but expect little impact on the market. Since the passing of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee in October 2020, the Samsung owner family inherited stock assets worth about 25 trillion won and must pay approximately 11 trillion won in inheritance taxes. The Samsung family plans to utilize the installment payment system for inheritance tax. This system requires paying one-sixth of the total tax upfront, with the remainder paid in installments over five years. The stocks left by Chairman Lee include 4.18% of Samsung Electronics, 20.76% of Samsung Life Insurance, 2.9% of Samsung C&T, and 0.01% of Samsung SDS.

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