Samsung Group’s insurance units are selling a combined 1.5 trillion won ($1 billion) stake in Samsung Electronics after the chipmaker’s treasury share cancellation pushed up their ownership ratios.
Samsung Life Insurance said Thursday it will sell 6,244,658 Samsung Electronics shares worth about 1.3 trillion won. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance said separately it will sell 1,091,273 shares worth 227.5 billion won.
Combined, the planned sale amounts to about 0.12 percent of Samsung Electronics’ total shares. The shares will be sold through a block deal during Friday’s trading session.
The move follows Samsung Electronics’ decision to cancel about 73.36 million treasury shares in the first half as part of its shareholder return policy, reducing its total share count. The change automatically increases the ownership ratios of existing shareholders, raising the risk that the two insurers could breach regulatory limits.
Under the Act on the Structural Improvement of the Financial Industry, a financial company can own no more than 10 percent of a non-financial company.
“We have decided to sell part of the stake that is expected to exceed the threshold in order to preemptively remove any elements of legal violation,” Samsung Life said in a regulatory filing.
After the sale, Samsung Life’s stake in Samsung Electronics will fall to 8.41 percent from 8.51 percent, while Samsung Fire’s will decline to 1.47 percent from 1.49 percent.
jwc@heraldcorp.com
