Elliott Associates, a minority shareholder of Samsung Electronics, sent the company a corporate restructuring proposal last year which called for splitting Samsung Electronics into two. The hedge fund proposed that Samsung Electronics should be split up into an operating and a holding company.
Samsung didn't agree with everything that the hedge fund proposed but it has taken some steps to increase shareholder value in the short term. It also said that it was reviewing “the possibility” of shifting to a holding company structure and that it had retained external advisors to conduct a thorough review.
The company was expected to announce its decision this year but analysts feared that it might be delayed owing to the detention of Samsung Electronics vice chairman and the conglomerate's heir Lee Jae-yong.
He has been arrested on charges of bribery and corruption in relation to South Korea's influence-peddling scandal which has already led to the ouster of the country's president. Samsung's de facto chief has been indicted and his trial is expected to be wrapped up in three months.
Local media reports quote a senior Samsung executive who says that Samsung Electronics has been thinking about whether or not a shift to a holding company structure should be made regardless of the leadership vacuum left behind by Lee Jae-yong.
Samsung Electronics chief financial officer Lee Sang-hoon was asked about the company's process of reviewing this proposal to which he replied that “We will review it without delay and make an announcement as scheduled because we made a promise to investors regardless of the group-related issues.”
The company's CFO didn't say when an announcement might be made even though Samsung initially said that the review would take at least six months. However, it's expected that the decision will be disclosed in a conference call for foreign investors at some point later this year.
