Nexon owner family to pay $4.6 inherence tax via financing instead of sale of units

[Photo by MK DB]

The controlling stake in South Korean video game giant Nexon will stay with the founder family as the heirs of late founder Kim Jung-ju chose to pay for an estimated 6 trillion won ($4.6 billion) inheritance tax with loans instead of putting Nexon units up for sale.

Yoo Jung-hyun, widow of Nexon¡¯s late founder and director at NXC, the holding company of the video game giant, is working with her legal and tax advisors Kim & Chang, Yulchon, and PKF Seo-hyun to process her inheritance, which includes 47 percent stake in Nexon listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan.

Yoo is expected to submit her inheritance tax payment scheme to the tax bureau by the end of August as Korean law requires a report within the first six months of death. Kim Jung-ju passed away in late February.

There had been speculation that the family could sell some of their stakes as tax can reach up to 6 trillion won to inherit the shares of Nexon with a market capitalization of 24 trillion won.

NXC, the holding entity of Tokyo-listed video game giant Nexon with controlling 47.98 percent stake, is fully owned by Kim and his family members. NXC is owned 67.49 percent by Kim and the rest by his family members. Based on Nexon¡¯s market cap on Thursday, Kim¡¯s stake ownership in the game company is estimated at 9 trillion won. Including his other assets, total inheritance is estimated to exceed 10 trillion won. U.S media outlets Forbes earlier estimated Kim to be worth $10.9 billion and Bloomberg $7.46 billion.

Under the Korean tax law, as high as a 65 percent tax rate could be imposed on the inheritance from the tycoon.

Heirs plan to raise the funds for tax dues through loans from Japanese financial institutions as the interest rate in Japan is still at near zero.

Market analysts expect Nexon to increase dividend payout from the end of this year to facilitate tax financing.

NXC reportedly has notified subsidiary companies that M&A options are not under consideration.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]