Samsung Life to raise stake in securities arm amid group restructuring (updated)

Samsung Securities Co

18/08/2016 11:05

* Samsung Life to buy Samsung Securities shares for $211 mln 
    * Samsung Group pushing to simplify ownership structure 
    * Insurer to eventually emerge as financial holding firm 
-analyst 
 
 (Updates with comments from Samsung Life and analyst; adds 
background) 
    SEOUL, Aug 18 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Life 
Insurance Co  032830.KS  is buying its insurance affiliate's 
entire 8 percent stake in Samsung Securities Co  016360.KS , a 
move seen as furthering the restructuring of conglomerate 
Samsung Group  SAGR.UL .          
    In a statement on Thursday, Samsung Life said it will pay 
234 billion won ($211 million) for Samsung Fire & Marine 
Insurance Co's  000810.KS  stake in the securities firm. The 
deal will improve returns on assets under management, it said. 
The life insurer will control 19.2 percent of the brokerage once 
the deal is completed.  
    Shares of the financial arms of Samsung Group rose sharply 
on Thursday on local media reports that Samsung Life is boosting 
its stake in Samsung Fire & Marine and Samsung Securities in 
order to lay the foundation to transition into a financial 
holding company. Samsung Life also owns 15 percent of Samsung 
Fire & Marine.  
    Samsung Group, South Korea's top family-run conglomerate, 
has been undergoing restructuring since 2014 in an effort to 
simplify its ownership structure and consolidate control of key 
affiliates such as Samsung Electronics Co  005930.KS  under de 
facto leader Jay Y. Lee and his sisters. 
    Samsung Life is a key vehicle within the complicated web of 
cross-shareholding relationships that allow the Lee family to 
control its smartphones-to-construction business empire. 
Investors and analysts say the life insurer will eventually 
emerge as a financial holding company as part of the 
restructuring, though a Samsung Life spokesman told Reuters 
there is no such plan at present. 
    Park Ju-gun, head of corporate analysis firm CEO Score, said 
such a transition will take time due to regulatory issues, 
including the requirement for financial holding companies to own 
at least 30 percent of its affiliates. 
    "Based on the current circumstances Samsung Group will want 
to form a financial holding company and continue making 
preparations accordingly," he said.                
 ($1 = 1,107.1700 won) 
 
 (Reporting by Se Young Lee and Joyce Lee; Editing by Jacqueline 
Wong and Muralikumar Anantharaman) 
 ((vincentsy.lee@thomsonreuters.com; +822 3704 5646; Reuters 
Messaging: vincentsy.lee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; follow 
me on Twitter @Rover829)) 
 
Keywords: SAMSUNG LIFE SAMSUNG F&M INS/SAMSUNG SECURITIES (U