[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong saw a 90 billion won (US$78.84 million) increase in his stock assets even as he is languishing in jail on bribery charges in relation to the scandal involving former President Park Geun-hye, according to media reports on April 18.

This was largely due to share price of Samsung Engineering which increased by 60 percent from 8,100 won to 12,950 won on the previous day. Lee had bought over 3 million shares worth 30.17 billion won after the Samsung subsidiary issued new stocks to its employees in February 2016.

The firm had issued new stocks to raise capital after suffering an operating loss of 1.5 trillion won in the third quarter of 2015.

The stock price has been rising on the back of the firm’s solid performance in the construction sector.

Its revenue increased by 8.8 percent to 7.9 trillion won in 2016, while operating profit and net income both turned positive.

The lock-up period for the Samsung Engineering stocks ended in February. But analysts expected shareholders to hold onto the shares.

“Samsung Engineering is expected to continue its good performance this year, so it seems shareholders are reluctant to sell stocks even though the lock-up period has ended,” said an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)