South Korea’s largest life insurance firm Samsung Life Insurance Co. reported its net profit in the second quarter surged 178 percent on year due largely to the one-time profit from selling its stake in Samsung Electronics Co. under regulatory order.

Its net profit on a consolidated basis was 1.06 trillion won in the quarter ended June, up 178 percent from a year earlier and 171 percent from the previous three months, according to the insurer’s regulatory filing released last Friday.

Operating profit soared 165 percent on year and 160 percent on quarter to 1.44 trillion won. Revenue reached 9.23 trillion won, up 30 percent on year and 15.3 percent on quarter.

Its insurance premium as of late June fell 2.4 percent on year to 5.28 trillion won. Total assets stood at 285.2 trillion won.

On Monday, shares of Samsung Life fell 3.09 percent to close the day at 94,000 won.

The insurer earned 751.5 billion won by disposing of its 0.38 percent stake in Samsung Electronics.

In May, Samsung Life, along with affiliate Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., sold their combined 27 million shares, or 0.45 percent stake, in the tech giant for about 1.3 trillion won. The move cut Samsung Life’s holdings in the technology mogul to 7.92 percent and Samsung Fire’s to 1.38 percent.

The block sale was made to comply with a domestic law that limits the financial arms of conglomerates from owning more than 10 percent in non-financial affiliates. The insurers said they decided to unload the shares ahead of Samsung Electronics’ plans to cancel its treasury shares by the end of the year, a move that would push up their holdings in their electronics sibling to 10.45 percent.

Samsung Life is also under pressure to further reduce its stake in Samsung Electronics, as the National Assembly is pushing for changes in the insurance law to restrict an insurer’s shareholding in affiliates to 3 percent of the insurer’s total assets.

Separately, Samsung Fire reported its net profit on a consolidated basis rose 31.7 percent on year in the second quarter to 364.5 billion won. Operating profit jumped 38.5 percent to 512.7 billion won on sales of 4.59 trillion won, down 0.6 percent from the year-ago period.

By Park Man-won and Kim Hyo-jin

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