By Yantoultra Ngui and Joyce Lee
SINGAPORE/SEOUL, April 8 (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics shareholder Shinhan Bank launched a sale of about $2.1 billion worth of shares in the South Korean company, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
Shinhan Bank is offering 15 million Samsung Electronics shares at between 204,395 won and 208,605 won each, representing a discount of 0.9% to 2.9% to the stock’s Wednesday close of 210,500 won, the term sheet showed.
The shares amount to about 0.25% of Samsung Electronics’ shares outstanding, according to the term sheet, which provided no reason for the sale.
However, Hong Ra-hee, the mother of Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee, signed a securities disposal trust agreement with Shinhan Bank in January to dispose of 15 million Samsung Electronics shares, according to a regulatory filing.
The filing specified the sale’s purpose as “tax payment and loan repayment.”
The family of late Samsung patriarch Lee Kun-hee has been paying the inheritance tax in instalments over five years since 2021.
Samsung Electronics declined comment. Shinhan Bank could not be reached outside of business hours.
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Tomasz Janowski)
