Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-Hee won a court ruling Friday
against demands from his siblings to hand over billions of dollars in
shares in various Samsung Group companies.
The court allowed Lee to
retain all his shareholdings in the giant conglomerate which members of
his family had accused him of hiding from them following the death of
Lee's father and Samsung founder Lee Byung-Chul.
If the court had
found against Lee, 71, it would have forced a restructuring of the
complex web of shareholdings across the Group's entities and weakened
his hold on the giant conglomerate.
The main claimants were Lee's brother, Lee Maeng-Hee, his sister Lee Suk-Hee and the children of another brother.
They
said that after their father's death in 1987, Lee had taken over shares
worth around $4 billion in Samsung Electronics and Samsung Life
Insurance that had been held under the names of other people including
Samsung executives.
Samsung at CES 2013