South Korea May Force Sale of $13 Billion in Samsung Shares
- Lawmakers, regulators seek ways to limit chaebols’ influence
- Lee family may end up with less control over Samsung group
This article is for subscribers only.
About 15 trillion won ($13 billion) worth of shares in Samsung Electronics Co. are poised to flood South Korea’s stock market, as lawmakers and regulators seek to restrict the control that chaebol families exert over their business empires.
Samsung Life Insurance Co. is facing pressure to sell its stock in the electronics maker, as President Moon Jae-in’s party prepares to push a bill through parliament that bans insurance firms from having a stake in an affiliate of more than 3 percent of its assets. The measure would change accounting rules so that such holdings would be valued at their current price instead of their acquisition cost, putting the stake over the regulatory threshold.