Samsung Electronics shares valued at $1.1 billion were purchased in a block sale on Thursday according to a document. This was due to the Samsung conglomerate’s controlling family raising money to pay a large tax bill.
Kookmin Bank (KOOKM.UL), which sold 19.9 million Samsung shares at 68.800 won per share, a discount of 2.4% from Wednesday’s closing price of 70,500 won. A term sheet of the deal, seen by Reuters, showed.
Samsung Electronics didn’t comment on the sale.
According to a Samsung Electronics filing, the sale price of the shares was equal to the amount Jay Y. Lee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, and Hong Ra-hee (wife of the deceased Samsung patriarch Lee Kunhee) agreed to trust Kookmin Bank within October.
According to the filing, the trust agreement period was set to expire on April 25,
People with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Samsung’s controlling family used shares in affiliate companies to pay a portion of $10 billion in inheritance taxes after patriarch Lee died in 2020.
The tax code allows for payment in installments. One-sixth must be paid first and the rest over five years at an annual interest rate. Analysts expect that over 2 trillion won ($1.64 million) will be due each year even if they are paid in installments.
Choi Kwansoon, an analyst with SK Securities, stated that “the owner family is likely to sell additional shares in order to secure funds for inheritance taxes.”
In early afternoon trade, Samsung Electronics saw a 1% drop in its share price to 69,900 won, compared with a 0.5% decline in the wider market.
Bookrunners for this sale were JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Kookmin.