[Yonhap News Photo]
Shares of Samsung Group units got an unexpected boost Thursday on rumors that ailing group boss Lee Kun-Hee has been dead, triggering market expectations on the quick transfer of ownership to his son.
Lee, 74, has been incommunicado since he was hospitalized in May 2014 after being hit by a stroke. His only son, Samsung Electronics vice chairman J. Y. Lee, has since struggled to streamline the structure of the country's largest family-run conglomerate to pave the way for his debut as group leader.
Samsung C&T Corp, the group's trade arm and de facto holding company, and other key units rallied as rumors that an announcement about the death of Lee Kun-hee would be made soon spread widely through social networking services.
Samsung C&T Corp. soared 8.51 percent in mid-day trading but the rally stopped after the group released denials. "Rumors about Chairman Lee's death are groundless," Samsung Electronics said in a statement.
In September last year, the group completed a merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, with the merged entity keeping the name of Samsung C&T. The deal helped the founding Lee family cement control by allowing the group to strengthen its cross-ownership structure since the merged affiliates had stakes in other companies.
The group has struggled to cut costs and sell non-core units in an effort to raise funds for massive inheritance tax.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
