South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Friday that it has placed 20 more companies on its watch list that limits mutual investments and loan guarantees.

   According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the number of corporate affiliates on the list stood at 1,600 from a total of 55 business groups as of Thursday, compared with 1,580 companies last month.

   Fourteen business groups including the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp., LG and POSCO established new companies or acquired stakes, leading the FTC to add the new affiliates to the watch list.

   A total of 28 new affiliates were added, while eight existing firms were excluded from the list as six business groups including Samsung pushed for mergers and acquisitions or sale of stakes, the watchdog noted.

   Under South Korea's fair trade law, affiliates of large business groups with assets of 5 trillion won (US$4.7 billion) or more are restricted from making equity investments or offering loan guarantees in one another.

   The rule is aimed at preventing the distortion of conglomerate governance structures.

Source: Yonhap News (Sept. 2, 2011)