(VG ViewusGlobal) - The Samsung owner family is disposing of 2.6 trillion won ($2.2 billion) worth of owned stock to raise inheritance tax.
According to the electronic disclosure system of the Financial Supervisory Service on the 5th, the former director of Samsung Museum of Art Leeum, Hong Ra-hee, Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin, and Samsung Welfare Foundation Chairman Lee Seo-hyun signed a securities disposal trust contract with Hana Bank on the 31st last month.
Former director Hong, CEO Lee Boo-jin, and Chairman Lee Seo-hyun announced that the purpose of the contract is ‘for inheritance tax payment.’ Former director Hong signed a contract to sell 0.32% (19,324,106 shares) of Samsung Electronics, CEO Lee Boo-jin will sell 0.04% (2,401,223 shares), and Chairman Lee Seo-hyun will sell 0.14% (8,103,854 shares).
Based on the closing price of 69,600 won on the 3rd, the total amount of stake sale is 1.345 trillion won ($1.14 billion) for former director Hong, 167.1 billion won ($141.8 million) for CEO Lee Boo-jin, and 564 billion won ($478.1 million) for Chairman Lee Seo-hyun, totaling 2.76 trillion won ($2.34 billion). On the same day, CEO Lee Boo-jin also signed a trust contract for the sale of 0.65% of Samsung C&T, 1.95% of Samsung SDS, and 1.16% of Samsung Life Insurance.
The total value of the stocks sold by the mother and daughter to pay the inheritance tax is 2.5754 trillion won ($2.18 billion).
Notably, it drew attention that Samsung C&T stocks considered the ‘last bastion,’ were also included in the disposal list.
Samsung C&T, which is not a holding company structure but plays the role of a holding company in the Samsung Group, has been fully owned by all four members of the owner family for nearly three years after the inheritance. Still, it is interpreted that it eventually included Samsung C&T stocks in the disposal list due to the heavy tax burden.
The inheritance tax that the Samsung owner family has to pay after the death of the late Lee Kun-hee, the former chairman of Samsung, is 12 trillion won ($10.2 billion). The family has paid about 6 trillion won ($5.1 billion) over the past three years from April 2021 using the ‘annual payment system,’ which allows them to pay the tax in installments over several years.
By Joo Seung Hee
