Seoul, Jan 16 (IANS): Three members of Samsung Group's founding family have sold their shares worth $2 billion in group affiliates, including Samsung Electronics, in an apparent bid to pay inheritance taxes.

Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing that Hong Ra-hee, the mother of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, and her two daughters -- Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, chief of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, have unloaded a combined 29.8 million shares worth 2.17 trillion won in the company.

Their holdings were sold at 72,717 won per share in a block deal, resulting in their stakes in Samsung Electronics slipping to 1.45 per cent, 0.78 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively, reports Yonhap news agency.

Other group affiliates, including Samsung C&T Corp., Samsung SDS Co. and Samsung Life Insurance Co., also said in a regulatory filing that Boo-jin unloaded 0.65 per cent, 1.95 per cent and 1.16 per cent of her stakes in the three companies the same day.

The block sale is widely seen as aimed at paying inheritance taxes totaling 12 trillion won following the death of late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee in October 2020.

Since his death, the owner group's family members have been paying their inheritance taxes in installments over a five-year span that started in April 2021.