[비즈한국] On the day Samsung Electronics005930 announced its 2026 corporate value enhancement plan, Samsung Life Insurance032830 and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance000810 also decided to sell a portion of their stakes in Samsung Electronics. In a regulatory filing on March 19, Samsung Electronics announced that it would invest over 110 trillion won in facility investment and research and development (R&D) this year, and pursue meaningful mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in future growth sectors such as advanced robotics, meditech, automotive electronics, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).
The company also stated that it had executed 20.9 trillion won in cash dividends and 8.4 trillion won in treasury stock purchases for cancellation during 2024-2025, and that in 2026, it would provide additional shareholder returns if 50% of the three-year free cash flow exceeds the 2024-2025 shareholder return amount and this year's regular dividend of 9.8 trillion won.
On the same day, Samsung Life Insurance disclosed that it would dispose of 6,244,658 shares of Samsung Electronics for 1.302 trillion won, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance would dispose of 1,091,273 shares for 227.5 billion won. The total volume to be sold by the two companies is 7,335,931 shares, amounting to approximately 1.5 trillion won. This disposal is interpreted as a follow-up measure to Samsung Electronics' previous announcement in its business report that it would cancel approximately 87 million treasury shares within the first half of this year. This is because when the number of issued shares decreases due to treasury stock cancellation, the equity ratio of existing shareholders naturally increases.
The legal context lies in Article 24 of the Act on Structural Improvement of the Financial Industry. This clause requires Financial Services Commission approval when a financial institution in the same conglomerate holds 10% or more of the voting shares of another company. The market has effectively regarded this as the '10% regulatory threshold of the Financial-Industrial Separation Act.' Before the cancellation of Samsung Electronics' treasury shares, Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance held 8.51% and 1.49% respectively. It had been speculated that if the cancellation took place, their combined stake would increase without any additional purchase, potentially triggering regulatory issues. In fact, the two companies explained the purpose of the disposal was to proactively resolve the risk of violating the Financial-Industrial Separation Act.
The chain of announcements on March 19 demonstrates that Samsung Electronics' 'Value-up' program went beyond internal investment plans and shareholder returns, simultaneously influencing the equity management of the group's financial affiliates.