Samsung family member is said to sell up to 3.1 trillion won in shares

[HONG KONG] A Samsung Group family member has sold about 3.1 trillion won (S$2.7 billion) in Samsung Electronics shares, according to sources familiar with the matter, in one of the biggest such offerings in South Korea.

Hong Ra-hee, the wife of the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, sold her shares for inheritance-tax purposes, the sources said, asking not to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

A regulatory filing in January showed that Hong was looking to dispose of 15 million shares for tax and loan repayment. A Samsung Electronics representative declined to comment.

Terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News on Thursday (Apr 9) showed a seller pricing 15 million shares at 205,237 won each, representing a discount of 2.5 per cent to Samsung’s closing price of 210,500 won on Wednesday. Bankers had marketed the shares at 204,395 won to 208,605 won each. The stock slid as much as 3.8 per cent on Thursday.

The seller is also conducting a sale of 206,633 preferred shares, amounting to roughly US$19 million, according to the terms.

Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Shinhan Securities and UBS Group are joint bookrunners, the terms show.

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South Korea has steep inheritance taxes on controlling shareholders of firms such as Samsung Electronics, delivering a financial hit to many of the nation’s richest families.

Samsung’s Lee died in 2020 at 78, leaving family members with one of the largest-ever inheritance bills in the country. BLOOMBERG