Samsung heir to meet Sweden’s biggest biz tycoon Wallenberg

De facto Samsung Electronics leader Lee Jae-yong is expected to meet with the owner of largest Swedish business group Wallenberg later this month, according to news reports Wednesday.

Lee will reportedly hold a meeting with Chairman Marcus Wallenberg, who is scheduled to come to Seoul on Dec. 18 as part of a business delegation accompanying the Swedish prime minister’s visit to the country.

A business summit that promotes Korean businesses’ investments in Sweden will be held at a hotel in Seoul, a likely venue for the confidential one-on-one meeting between the Samsung heir and Wallenberg owner. 

Ties between Samsung and the Wallenberg family date back to 2003.

Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee ordered the group’s economic research institute to examine Wallenberg Group’s corporate governance structure and corporate social responsibility programs.

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong once previously met the Wallenberg chairman in 2012. There have been no tangible business partnerships between the two groups since.

“Wallenberg has been a kind of a role model group for Samsung to benchmark in terms of family-run business management,” said an industry official. “Yet, there have been no direct business relations between the two.”

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)