On September 29, Korea Investment & Securities analyzed that Samsung Electronics' 10 trillion won share buyback would serve as a factor supporting the downside of Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance stock prices.
On July 8, Samsung Electronics announced that it would repurchase 351 billion won worth of common shares and 40.19 billion won worth of preferred shares between July 9 and October 8, 2025. This is part of the share buyback plan announced in November 2024, and with this third repurchase, the total buyback amount will reach 10 trillion won.
Hong Yeran, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, explained, "The originally announced end date for the third share buyback was October 8, 2025, but since that day has been designated as a substitute holiday, the actual buyback is expected to be completed by October 2." She added, "The third buyback will be conducted in a way that the number of shares repurchased changes based on the total purchase amount, so as Samsung Electronics' share price has increased compared to the time of the announcement, the actual number of shares acquired will naturally decrease."
Due to the cancellation of treasury shares by Samsung Electronics, the shareholding ratios of Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will naturally rise, which may potentially violate the Act on the Structural Improvement of the Financial Industry.
Researcher Hong said, "With the cancellation of Samsung Electronics' treasury shares, the combined common shareholding ratio of Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance in Samsung Electronics will increase from 10.00% to 10.06%. In this case, there is a possibility of violating the Act on the Structural Improvement of the Financial Industry, since financial institutions are required to obtain approval from the Financial Services Commission to own more than 10% of another company's voting shares."
Accordingly, it is expected that Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will sell part of their holdings in Samsung Electronics. The profits from the sale are likely to be used as resources for special dividends. Assuming Samsung Electronics' share price is 80,000 won per share, the proceeds from the sale of Samsung Electronics shares would be 232.5 billion won for Samsung Life Insurance and 40.6 billion won for Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.
Researcher Hong stated, "Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will sell the portion of their Samsung Electronics shares that exceeds 10%." She added, "Considering that the gains from the first round of treasury share cancellation by Samsung Electronics were included in the 2025 special dividend for the two insurers, it is highly likely that the gains from this sale will be included in the 2026 special dividend."
This cancellation of treasury shares by Samsung Electronics is expected to serve as a factor supporting the downside of stock prices in the insurance sector, where momentum has recently slowed.
Researcher Hong analyzed, "Given that Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance need to sell their shares before the cancellation of Samsung Electronics' third round of treasury shares, it is highly likely that the disclosure of the disposal of other company shares and investment securities by the two insurers will be announced in October." She continued, "Even considering that the event was already largely reflected in the stock prices of Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance at the time of the first share buyback announcement, we believe that, with industry momentum slowing ahead of the Chuseok holiday, this will serve as a factor supporting the downside of their stock prices."
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