FTC probes GS Caltex for unfair support for former system integration unit

South Korea¡¯s antitrust agency has launched a probe into the country¡¯s eighth largest conglomerate GS Group on the allegation that it had violated the antitrust rules by favoring its former system integration unit.

According to government and industry sources on Sunday, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has completed an audit at the headquarters office of the group¡¯s key refinery unit GS Caltex in Gangnam-gu, Seoul recently to find evidence of the company¡¯s unfair support for its former system integration company GS ITM.

The antitrust watchdog suspects that the group unfairly entrusted more works to GS ITM before it was sold to a private equity fund consortium of IMM Investment and JKL Partners in 2018.

An FTC official declined to confirm the investigation.

Founded in 2006 as a system integration company, GS ITM raked in 6.3 billion won ($5.6 million) in operating profit and 200.1 billion won in revenue in 2017. Before it was sold to the fund consortium in 2018, the fourth-generation family owners of GS Group held a combined 90 percent stake in the IT unit.

Shares of GS Holdings Corp., the holding entity of GS Group, finished 0.89 percent lower at 38,900 won in Seoul on Monday. GS Caltex is unlisted.

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