[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The amount of loans secured by shares of affiliates held by large conglomerate owner families has exceeded 5 trillion won. Former Leeum Museum Director Hong Ra-hee, who borrowed 850 billion won, received the largest loan.
On the 1st, CEO Score, a corporate data research institute, announced that as of the 27th of last month, 130 family members of group heads had borrowed a total of 5.0387 trillion won by pledging shares of listed affiliates as collateral. This is based on a survey of 34 large business groups where the owner families had stock-backed loans.
This figure is slightly (1.0%) higher than the 4.9909 trillion won borrowed by 138 people as of the end of 2021.
Over the past year, a total of 151 family members of group heads took out loans. The transaction details also included collateral provided for debts of special relations such as relatives.
Three members of the Samsung family ranked among the top five in loan amounts. Former Director Hong's loan amount ranked first in this survey but decreased by 150 billion won (15.0%) compared to the end of 2021 (1 trillion won). Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, was second with 650 billion won, and Lee Seo-hyun, Chairwoman of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, was fourth with 371.1 billion won. Chairman Lee Jae-yong had no loans secured by his shares.
Chairman Choi Tae-won of SK Group, who borrowed 406.5 billion won, ranked third, and Chairman Chung Mong-joon of the Asan Foundation also borrowed 321.5 billion won, ranking fifth. Following them were Chairman Cho Hyun-bum of Korea & Company (250 billion won), Chairman Shin Dong-bin of Lotte Group (213.2 billion won), Chairman Koo Kwang-mo of LG Group (188 billion won), Chairman Kim Seung-yeon of Hanwha Group (122 billion won), and Chairman Seo Kyung-bae of Amorepacific (98.3 billion won).
During the same period, the largest increase in loan amount was by President Lee Boo-jin (220 billion won). Chairman Koo Kwang-mo (150 billion won) and General Manager Chung Yoo-kyung of Shinsegae (40 billion won) followed. In terms of loan amount growth rate, Chairman Koo Kwang-mo (394.7%) ranked first. Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan of Hanwha (35 billion won, new borrowing), Chairman Cho Hyun-bum (25 billion won), Chairman Choi Tae-won (20 billion won), Chairman Kwon Hyuk-woon of IS Dong (20 billion won), Honorary Chairman Lee Woong-yeol of Kolon (10 billion won), and Management Leader Lee Sun-ho of CJ CheilJedang (10 billion won, new borrowing) also ranked high.
The increase in loans by the Samsung and LG owner families is interpreted as mainly due to securing funds for inheritance tax during the asset succession process.
Meanwhile, as interest rates soared over the past year, the average interest rate on collateral loans for owner families also rose from 2.7% at the end of 2021 to 4.1% in January this year, an increase of 1.4 percentage points. Based on the disclosed loan amounts as of the 27th of last month, the estimated interest burden over the past year increased by 79.1 billion won (54.3%) from 145.5 billion won at the end of 2021 to 224.6 billion won in January this year.
As of the end of January, former Director Hong Ra-hee's estimated interest burden was the highest at 40.2 billion won, followed by President Lee Boo-jin (32.4 billion won), Chairman Choi Tae-won (18.7 billion won), Chairwoman Lee Seo-hyun (16.2 billion won), and Chairman Cho Hyun-bum (14.2 billion won), CEO Score reported.
Chairman Koo Kwang-mo's interest burden increased by an estimated 9.7 billion won, showing the highest interest burden growth rate (929.8%). President Lee Boo-jin's interest burden is estimated to have increased by 20.5 billion won (171.4%).
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