Samsung expands returns to investors

Samsung Electronics Co will increase cash returns to shareholders, add at least one outside director and review its corporate structure, adopting some of the changes proposed by activist investor Elliott Management Corp.

Samsung will spend at least six months looking at the possibility of creating a holding company structure and the feasibility of listing the company's shares on additional international exchanges, South Korea's most valuable company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Samsung said it will also use 50 percent of free cash flow for shareholder returns for this year and next, committing to the upper end of a previously announced plan to return 30 percent to 50 percent of cash flow to shareholders through 2017.

That indicates a return of 9.5 trillion won ($8.1 billion) in 2016, based on free cash flow estimates.

Samsung will increase total dividends by 30 percent in 2016, bringing the annual dividend amount to 4 trillion won. The rest of the allocated total cash return will be used to buy shares starting at the end of January.