SEOUL (Reuters) – Shares in Samsung Electronics affiliates Samsung C&T Corp and Samsung Life Insurance fell on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous day after Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee received a two-and-a-half year jail term.
Some investors sold after the sentence dashed hopes for more generous returns if the court had ruled in Lee’s favour, analysts said.
There were expectations that some Samsung affiliates would reward shareholders to “try to create a good corporate image” in response to a lenient sentence, said Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities.
“There is concern that what the market expected will no longer be realized, with vice chairman Jay Y. Lee detained,” Park said.
Shares in Samsung C&T fell as much as 4.2% in morning trade, while Samsung Life fell as much as 2.4%, compared to a 0.8% rise in the wider market as of 0046 GMT.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Stephen Coates)
