Here's the presentation a hedge fund billionaire is using to attack the Samsung family dynasty
In letter to investors filed on Wednesday Singer outlined what he sees are problems at Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of the family business. He thinks the cell phone maker is undervalued by almost every measure - price-to-book value, price-to-earnings, what have you.
The problem, he wrote in a letter, is the complicated way the business is structured. Which is to say, the problem is the Lees themselves.
"We believe that an appropriate resolution to the current uncertainty surrounding a possible restructuring of Samsung Electronics and its affiliates is needed. We foresee obvious sustainable benefits for all Samsung Electronics' stakeholders of unlocking the value of Samsung Electronics' significant treasury shareholding and forming a strong and stable corporate structure for the Samsung group, which the Samsung Electronics Value Enhancement Proposals are designed to achieve."
Samsung Electronics is organized within a business structure native to South Korea. It's called a chaebol - a large conglomerate held by prominent families in the country (the number two chaebol and South Korea is held by the family that owns LG).
Last summer Singer led a campaign against the Lee family and their plans to split their chaebol. He didn't like the plan because it was designed to keep the majority of the company in the hands of the family at the expense of shareholder value.
But he narrowly lost that fight.
That outcome wasn't surprising. The Lees possess an incredible amount of power in their home country. This is a family whose scion, Lee Kun-hee, acknowledged he had a $200 million slush fund on hand for the sole purpose of paying off politicians and judges in 2008. He also pleaded guilty to embezzlement and tax evasion. He was then pardoned by the president of South Korea and returned as chairman of Samsung in a year.
Here's Singer's whole presentation:
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