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Investors are betting that the imperatives of maintaining Lee
family control and paying inheritance tax - estimated at about
10 trillion won ($8.9 billion) for listed stockholdings alone -
will be the catalyst for change, although analysts are divided
on what form that change will take.
Shares in Samsung C&T and Samsung Life Insurance closed up 13.5%
at a two-month high and 3.8%, respectively, while shares in
Samsung SDS also rose. Samsung Electronics - the jewel in the
group's crown - finished 0.3% higher.
Son and heir apparent Jay Y. Lee has a 17.3% stake in Samsung
C&T, the de facto holding firm, while the late Lee was the top
shareholder of Samsung Life with 20.76% stake.
"The inheritance tax is outrageous, so family members might have
no choice but to sell stakes in some non-core firms" such as
Samsung Life, said NH Investment Securities analyst Kim
Dong-yang.
"It may be likely for Samsung C&T to consider increasing
dividends for the family to cover such a high inheritance tax,"
KB Securities analyst Jeong Dong-ik said.
Lee, 78, died on Sunday, six years after he was hospitalised due
to heart attack in 2014. Since then, Samsung carried out a
flurry of stake sales and restructuring to streamline the
sprawling conglomerate and cement the junior Lee's control.
Investors have long anticipated a further shake-up in the event
of Lee's death, hoping for gains from restructuring to
strengthen de facto holding company Samsung C&T's control of
Samsung Electronics, such as Samsung C&T buying an affiliate's
stake in the tech giant.
"At this point, it is difficult to expect when Samsung Group
will kick off with a restructuring process as Jay Y. Lee is
still facing trials, making it difficult for the group's
management to begin organisational changes," Jeong said.
Lee is in two trials for suspected accounting fraud and stock
price manipulation, as well as for his role in a bribery scandal
that triggered the impeachment of former South Korean President
Park Geun-hye. The second trial resumed hearings on Monday.
Lee did not attend the trial on Monday, as Samsung executives
joined other business and political leaders for the second day
of funeral services for his father.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by
Heekyong Yang and Daewoung Kim; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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