Samsung Family's Three Women Sell 2.8 Trillion Won Stake in Affiliates via Block Deal for Inheritance Tax

Samsung Electronics Shares 29,829,183
Sale Price Per Share 72,716 KRW

The Samsung owner family sold some of their shares in Samsung Electronics and other affiliates through a block deal (large-scale off-hours trading) to raise inheritance tax funds.

Lee Seo-hyun, Chairperson of Samsung Welfare Foundation; Hong Ra-hee, Former Director of Samsung Museum of Art Leeum; Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla (from left). Photo by Yonhap News

According to industry sources and Bloomberg on the 11th, before the market opened that day, Hong Ra-hee, former director of the Samsung Museum of Art Leeum, Lee Boo-jin, president of Hotel Shilla, and Lee Seo-hyun, director of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, successfully sold a total of 2.1689 trillion KRW worth of Samsung Electronics shares (29,829,183 shares) via block deal.

The sold Samsung Electronics shares were 0.32% (19,324,106 shares) by former director Hong, 0.04% (2,401,223 shares) by president Lee, and 0.14% (8,103,854 shares) by director Lee. The selling price per share was 72,716 KRW, down 1.2% from the previous day's closing price of 73,600 KRW.

President Lee also disposed of some shares of Samsung C&T Corporation (0.65%), Samsung SDS (1.95%), and Samsung Life Insurance (1.16%) through block deals.

The total value of shares sold by the three women this time amounts to approximately 2.8 trillion KRW. Earlier, in October last year, they signed a securities disposal trust contract with Hana Bank to dispose of Samsung affiliate shares for the purpose of paying inheritance tax. The shares sold on this day were part of the volume under this contract.

Since the passing of former chairman Lee Kun-hee, the inheritance tax the Samsung family must pay amounts to 12 trillion KRW. The bereaved family has been using the installment payment system to pay the inheritance tax in installments over five years starting from April 2021.

Following the block deal news, the stock prices of Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T Corporation, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Life Insurance all fell in the KOSPI market that morning.