South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Wednesday that it has removed two business groups off its list that restricts mutual investments and loan guarantees, lowering the number to 61.

The Fair Trade Commission said one conglomerate has been newly added to the watchlist, with three others being taken off.

"Of the three companies that were removed, Incheon International Airport Corp. only had one affiliate making it ineligible for the business group designation, with Corning Precision Materials Korea and Korea District Heating Corp. being taken off because their corporate assets fell below the minimum mark," the FTC said.

The minimum mark stands at 5 trillion won ($4.51 billion), with Corning and the KDHC standing at 4.1 trillion won and 4.8 trillion won, respectively.

In contrast, Jungheung Construction Co. made the cut because its assets rose from 3.8 trillion won to 5.6 trillion won last year.

The total number of privately owned groups on the list remained at 49, with public corporations dipping to 12 from 14.

The antitrust watchdog then said under the updated list, the number of affiliates of the 61 groups subject to restrictions rose to 1,696, up 19 from a year ago.

SK had the most affiliates, with 82 companies under its umbrella, followed by 80 for Lotte, 79 for GS, 73 for Daesung and 67 for Samsung, South Korea's largest family-run business group, known in South Korea as chaebol.

The FTC said that while the number of affiliates did grow on-year, the total has been falling, as a whole, after peaking at 1,831 in 2012.

"The largest conglomerates have cut back on affiliate numbers with most of the gains in recent years coming from small to mid-size business groups," it said.

The latest data then showed the aggregate value of the 61 groups stood at 2,258.4 trillion won, an increase of 52.6 trillion won from the previous year.

Samsung accounted for 20.1 trillion won of the gains over the year, with Hyundai Motor Group increasing its assets by 13.2 trillion won.

The average debt ratio of the business groups stood at 101.1 percent, down 2.6 percentage points from a year ago, with Hyundai Group's numbers falling the most.

The FTC said that assets of big conglomerates have been increasing steadily while the debt ratio has been falling for the last five years.

In term of sales, the combined numbers fell 30.5 trillion won over the last year to 1,505.1 trillion won, with net earnings also down 5.7 trillion won to 42.1 trillion won.

The drops come after many South Korean companies struggled to generate sales and turn profits in 2014 and so far this year.

"Sales have been rising steadily, but they did start contracting after 2013, while net earnings have been falling steadily after 2011," the FTC said.

The regulator said that by updating the watch list every year, it can keep better tabs on large conglomerates that could distort the free market through internal financial arrangements and loan guarantees. (Yonhap)