(LEAD) Samsung Electronics to buy back its shares

(ATTN: ADDS purchase of Cheil Worldwide shares from para 9)
By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it will buy back 2.2 trillion won (US$1.98 billion) worth of its shares starting Thursday's trading session in order to stabilize its stock price.

The world's No. 1 maker of smartphones said its stock buyback program aims to "enhance benefits for stock holders through share price stabilization," apparently referring to the latest plunge in its share price due to lackluster profits from its mainstay mobile devices business.

The program will run through Feb. 26, 2015. Samsung said it will hold the shares for at least six months from the end of the program.

Shares of Samsung Electronics closed at 1,201,000 won on the main bourse Wednesday, falling 18.79 percent from the 1,479,000 won posted a year earlier. The tech giant had reached its peak during trading on Jan. 3, 2013 at 1,584,000 won.

Samsung Electronics has been losing ground on the main bourse as its mainstay smartphone business suffered due to rising competition from Chinese players with low-end models.

Samsung Electronic's operating profit in the mobile sector crashed to 1.75 trillion won in the third quarter from 6.7 trillion won a year ago.

Samsung Electronics took up 24.7 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, plunging from 35 percent a year earlier, data compiled by Strategy Analytics showed earlier.

In contrast, China-based Xiaomi took up 5.6 percent in the July-September period, nearly doubling from 2.1 percent posted in 2013.

Cheil Worldwide Inc., the advertising arm of Samsung Group, also said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it will offload some 220 billion worth of its shares to Samsung Electronics in a bid to "bolster management stability and secure liquidity."

Under the plan, Cheil Worldwide will sell 11.5 million shares to its tech cousin at Wednesday's closing price of 19,200 won.

Samsung Electronics will take up a 12.61 percent stake in Cheil Worldwide, emerging as the No. 2 shareholder and narrowing gap with Samsung C&T Corp., which holds 12.64 percent. Samsung C&T is a trading and construction unit of Samsung Group.

"The acquisition aims to bolster the capability of Cheil Worldwide and beef up the marketing of our company," Samsung Electronics said.

After completing the deal, Cheil Worldwide will hold 5.97 percent of its own shares.

colin@yna.co.kr
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