(비지니스) Samsung Electronics considers splitting firm in two

출처: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38140007

Samsung Electronics considers splitting firm in two 삼성전자 두 개의 독립회사로 분할 고려중

• 1 hour ago
 
• From the sectionBusiness

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Samsung Electronics has confirmed it is considering dividing the company into two separate firms.

The company has been under pressure from some investors to break itself into a holding unit and an operating company to boost shareholder value. (a holding unit: ) (an operating company:) (shareholder value: 주주, 주식의 가치)

The South Korean technology giant also announced plans to increase dividends and said it would continue to buy back more shares. (dividend: 배당금)

Restructuring pressure had been mounting after the Note 7 fiasco.

In October, the company was forced to stop production of its flagship smartphone model after failing to resolve battery problems leading to overheating and the devices catching fire.

A 'thorough review'

Samsung said it would bring in "external advisors to conduct a thorough review of the optimal corporate structure."

The firm pointed out that "the review does not indicate the management or the Board's intention one way or another."

Samsung also said it would pay out half of its free cash flow to shareholders for 2016 and 2017 and raise the dividend for 2016 by 36% compared to the previous year. (free cash flow: 잉여현금흐름)

In order to improve governance, the firm said it would nominate at least one new, international, independent Board member" as well as create a separate governance committee.

The company's statement comes after US activist hedge fund Elliott Management called for the firm to split into a holding unit for ownership purposes and a separate operating company. 삼성이 2개 회사(소유권이나 경영권의 방어를 위한 주식보유부문 회사와 실제 작동하는 회사)로 분할하겠다는 아이디어는 삼성의 독자적 아이디어가 아니라 미국 헤지펀드 엘리옷 매니지먼트의 아이디어임.

Why two companies?

The fund argued that a split would simplify the company structure making it easier to get a clear valuation of the firm's assets.

Currently, companies within the wider Samsung Group are linked through a complicated web of cross shareholding, linking Samsung Electronics to many other Samsung's firms and affiliates ranging from shipping, to heavy industries to insurance business.

That makes it difficult for investors to get a clear idea of what each individual Samsung company is actually worth.

The benefit of splitting Samsung Electronics into two companies would be that the cross-shareholding would affect only the holding company while the operating unit could be assed separately - making it a lot easier to arrive at a clean company evaluation.

The proposal has won support from several of Samsung's investors and it is also thought that it would give back more control to the founding Lee family behind the company.