Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Cheil Industries Inc., the de facto holding company for Samsung Group’s Lee family, set the price for its 1.52 trillion won ($1.4 billion) initial public offering at the top of the marketed range.

Stock will be sold at 53,000 won apiece in the IPO, according to a regulatory filing today. The company will sell 10 million new shares in the offer, while three shareholders will sell 18.75 million shares of existing stock. Cheil had marketed the shares at 45,000 won to 53,000 won.

The Lees are revamping an empire that spans smartphones, TVs, insurance and weapons since patriarch Lee Kun Hee was hospitalized in May with a heart attack. Eldest son Lee Jae Yong owns about 25 percent of Cheil and his two sisters each have stakes of 8.4 percent in the operator of theme parks and zoos that helps them control South Korea’s biggest chaebol.

The IPO is the second from the Lee family in as many months after the sale of Samsung SDS Co., a technology-services company. Political pressure is mounting on Samsung to unwind a web of cross-shareholdings that allows the Lee family to maintain control of about 70 companies with less than a 2 percent total stake.

President Park Geun Hye’s government banned the creation of new cross-shareholdings and offered tax breaks for restructuring as part of measures to improve corporate governance and make the family-run chaebol business groups more transparent.

In order to take control of Samsung Group, Lee’s three heirs face inheritance taxes that could exceed $5 billion for their father’s $12.8 billion fortune.

Cheil, formerly known as Samsung Everland Inc., said in June it was seeking to go public to help overseas expansion and improve management transparency. The company sits atop the group via direct and indirect stakes in affiliates including Samsung Electronics Co. and Samsung Life Insurance Co.