By Kang Yoon-seung
SEOUL, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s antitrust regulator announced Monday that it has decided to impose a fine of 3.2 billion won (US$2.39 million) on an affiliate of SeAH Group, a steelmaking conglomerate, for allegedly selling its products at unreasonably low prices to benefit another affiliate.
The punitive measure against SeAH Changwon Integrated Special Steel Corp. was taken as it was found to have given discounts of around 1,000 won per kilogram to SeAH CTC, which was acquired by the controlling family’s privately-run firm in 2015, from 2016 to 2019.
According to the FTC, this resulted in “an excessive economic benefit” for the counterpart and caused an operation loss for SeAH Changwon.
On the other hand, SeAH CTC, which posted sales of 9.2 billion won in 2015, was able to expand the volume to 26.3 billion won in 2017 due to the support.
The FTC noted that this action is of great importance, as it curbed activities in which controlling families transferred wealth to their private companies, simultaneously bolstering the market dominance of those businesses.
SeAH currently holds 28 affiliates, with their combined assets having reached 11.7 trillion won as of May this year.
colin@yna.co.kr
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