Hong Rahee, Honorary Director of the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, will donate her entire stake in Samsung C&T-approximately 1% of the company-to Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on December 2, Samsung C&T announced that Honorary Director Hong will donate all of her shares in Samsung C&T (1,808,577 shares, representing 1.06% of total shares) to her eldest son, Chairman Lee. The scheduled date for the donation is January 2 of next year.
As a result, Chairman Lee's stake, previously the largest among shareholders, will increase from 19.76% to 20.82%. Samsung C&T sits at the top of Samsung Group's governance structure, with Chairman Lee as its largest shareholder. Samsung C&T exerts influence over Samsung Life Insurance, which in turn influences Samsung Electronics.
The business community believes that Honorary Director Hong's donation is unrelated to Samsung's governance structure. The rationale is that Chairman Lee is already the largest shareholder of Samsung C&T, and the additional 1% stake will not significantly impact management control.
Following Chairman Lee, who is the largest shareholder of Samsung C&T, key shareholders include Lee Seo-hyun, President of Samsung C&T (6.80%), and Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla (6.10%).
The shares held by Honorary Director Hong were acquired according to the legal inheritance ratio following the death of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee. The value of these shares is estimated at around 400 billion won. Considering the current tax law's surcharge, the gift tax is expected to exceed 200 billion won (60%).
In addition to Samsung C&T, Honorary Director Hong also holds shares in Samsung Electronics. In October, she entered into a trust agreement to sell 10 million shares of Samsung Electronics to cover inheritance tax, reducing her holdings from 97,978,700 shares (1.66%) to 87,978,700 shares (1.49%). As a result, her stake has, for the first time, fallen below that of Chairman Lee.
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