SEOUL, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The mother and two sisters of

Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) Chairman Jay Y. Lee plan to sell

some 1.73 trillion won ($1.22 billion) worth of shares in the

South Korean tech firm, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The purpose of the sale of 17.7 million shares, or a 0.3%

stake in Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ), is to cover tax payments and loan

repayment, according to the late Friday filing with the Korea

Exchange.

Experts view the sale by Lee's sisters Lee Boo-jin and Lee

Seo-hyun and his mother, Hong Ra-hee, as part of the owner

family's efforts to secure funds to pay their inheritance tax

estimated at about 12 trillion won, following the 2020 death of

Samsung patriarch Lee Kun-hee.

The sale will be handled by Shinhan Bank under a trust

contract and completed by next April, according to the filing.

Samsung shares have jumped more than 48% since it announced

a chip-supply deal with Tesla in July. It has secured supply

deals with other major customers such as OpenAI, and

expectations have risen that the company will be able to supply

its latest high-bandwidth memory products to Nvidia ( NVDA ).

The stock is up more than 84% this year, gaining 0.2% on

Friday to 97,900 won.

"Samsung's 10 trillion won share buyback plan last year was

aimed at protecting the stock value, which would help the

Samsung family to secure fund for inheritance tax," said Park

Ju-gun, head of corporate analysis firm Leaders Index.

With Samsung's share price now nearing 100,000 won, the

planned sale likely aims to complete inheritance tax payments.

"One disappointing aspect is that the owner family is

selling shares at a time like this, which could dampen sentiment

among retail investors," he said.

"After all, Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) is practically a 'national

stock', owned by about 5 million retail shareholders who have

been eagerly watching the shares approach the 100,000-won mark

after the recent rally."

($1 = 1,421.5800 won)