SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Monday that the number of companies subject to restrictions on mutual investments and loan guarantees declined by 17 in February from a month earlier.

The Fair Trade Commission said the number of corporate affiliates on its watch list stood at 1,774 as of early February, down from 1,791 tallied in the previous month.

Sixteen companies were newly added to the list, while 33 affiliates were taken off over the past month, the FTC said.

The exclusion comes mostly from mergers, stake sales and others from 12 business groups, including Samsung, Lotte and POSCO, it added.

Under South Korea’s fair trade law, affiliates of large business groups with assets of 5 trillion won ($4.56 billion) or more are restricted from making equity investments in or offering loan guarantees to one another.