South Korea's powerful Samsung conglomerate -- run by the country's wealthiest family -- secured shareholder approval Friday for the crucial merger of two affiliates, seeing off a formidable challenge from investor activists led by a combative US hedge fund.

The victory, following a bitterly contested proxy battle, will come as an enormous relief to the founding Lee family as it seeks to restructure the multi-headed Samsung Group ahead of a generational transfer of power from ailing patriarch Lee Kun-Hee.