By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Koomin Bank sold Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) Co. Ltd. (KS:005930) shares that were worth around $1.1 billion earlier in the day, according to a term sheet that was seen by Reuters.
The term sheet showed that about 19.9 million shares priced at KRW68,800 won per share were put on the block. Kookmin, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) acted as bookrunners for the sale.
Samsung Electronics' South Korean shares rose 0.85% to KRW69,900 ($57.44) by 1:17 AM ET (5:17 AM GMT), after falling 1% to KRW 69,800 won in early Asian trading. The company’s shares recorded a 0.9% fall in the wider market.
Samsung Electronics did not comment on the sale, but analysts said that the move had been widely expected.
The shares also match the amount that Ra-hee Hong, mother of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee agreed to keep in trust with Kookmin Bank in October 2021, a Samsung Electronics filing showed. The filing also showed that the trust agreement period was due to end by Apr. 25, 2022.
Hong is also the wife of deceased Samsung patriarch Kun-hee Lee. Since the elder Lee’s death in 2020, the family that owns Samsung has used its shares in affiliated companies to pay part of more than $10 billion in inheritance tax, people with direct knowledge of the matter previously told Reuters.
South Korea’s tax code allows payment of inheritance tax in installments, with an initial one-sixth of the total to be paid first. The remainder must be over five years with an annual interest rate. Even in installments, KRW 2 trillion, or $1.64 billion, will be due annually, according to analysts.