Seoul — Samsung Group’s two insurance firms said on Wednesday they would sell stock worth $1.3bn in the conglomerate’s biggest earner, Samsung Electronics, to maintain regulatory compliance. Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance separately said their electronics affiliate’s current policy of cancelling its own shares to raise the value of investors’ holdings risks pushing their own holdings beyond regulatory limits. Samsung Electronics stock fell 3.5% after local media first reported the sales plans, as investors feared the sudden increased supply would push down its price, analysts said. The announcements come at a time when regulators are questioning conglomerates’ cross-shareholding arrangements, saying the web-like ownership structures undermine corporate governance by allowing founding families to control business empires with only direct minority stakes in key units. In South Korea, conglomerates’ financial arms are required to limit their combined stake i...
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