By Dave Sebastian


A trust for Samsung's founding Lee family sold about $2 billion in shares to help pay one of the world's largest inheritance-tax bills.

The family offloaded nearly 30 million shares representing a roughly 0.5% stake worth $1.64 billion in appliance-and-chip giant Samsung Electronics, according to deal terms seen by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the matter. It also sold about $405 million of shares in subsidiaries Samsung SDS, Samsung C&T and Samsung Life Insurance through block trades on Thursday.

KEB Hana Bank sold the shares on behalf of a trust for certain Samsung family members seeking to pay their inheritance tax, people familiar with the matter said.

Spokespeople for Samsung Electronics and KEB Hana Bank declined to comment.

Lee Kun-hee, whose father founded the Korean conglomerate, died in 2020 at 78. The patriarch's death left one of South Korea's wealthiest families with more than $10 billion in estate taxes. In 2021, the family unloaded rare Picasso and Monet paintings to help pay the bill.

The Samsung Electronics shares were priced at 72,717 won apiece in the block trade, equivalent to $55.11 and a 1.2% discount to Wednesday's closing price, according to the term sheet. Shares in the three other entities were priced at a 3% to 5% discount.

Companies in Asia raised $221.4 billion through equity-capital-market deals in 2023, down 13% from the year before and far below 2021 levels, according to Dealogic. The Samsung Electronics block trade is Asia's biggest so far this year.

Goldman Sachs, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and UBS were bookrunners in the Samsung Electronics block trade.


--Jiyoung Sohn contributed to this article.


Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-11-24 0002ET