A retail conglomerate in Korea
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) - Shinsegae, a retail conglomerate, joined the list of the country's top 10 business groups in terms of assets last year, while logistics group Hanjin suffered a sharp drop on the conglomerate ranking chart as its affiliate Hanjin Shipping Co. was put under court receivership, industry data showed Wednesday.
According to the data compiled by industry tracker CEO Score, a total of 1,183 companies were affiliated with the country's top 30 conglomerates as of September last year, whose combined assets stood at 1,560 trillion won (US$1.34 trillion).
Their assets increased 17.88 trillion won, or 1.2 percent on-year, and the number of affiliated firms also rose 1.11 percent, or 13 over the cited period, the data showed.
The country's top conglomerate was Samsung whose affiliates include tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. with 350 trillion won, followed by Hyundai Motor Group with 209.6 trillion won, energy and telecom conglomerate SK with 163.8 trillion won.
Shinsegae was included on the top 10 list for the first time, with assets totaling 32.9 trillion won. Hanjin suffered a three-notch fall coming in at 13th as its shipping affiliate Hanjin Shipping Co. was placed in the hands of its creditors due to mounting debt.
Hyundai fell off the list of the country's top 30 business groups as it sold off key affiliates such as Hyundai Securities Co. to get through over its liquidity crisis.
Retail giant Lotte Group saw its assets rise 5.5 percent, or 5.6 trillion won, over the cited period, the fastest pace among its rivals. It was followed by finance and energy conglomerate Hanwha with 5.29 trillion won and finance giant Mirae Asset with 5.1 trillion won, the data showed.
Mirae Asset took over KDB-Daewoo Securities last year, becoming the country's largest brokerage house and asset manager.
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