LG Innotek, the LG Group’s component-making affiliate, received the highest score in its cooperative business partnership with smaller businesses, the state-run antitrust regulator said Wednesday.

The Fair Trade Commission conducted an evaluation of 21 major conglomerates that have signed a “shared-growth agreement” between March and June.

A total of 93 major businesses here have agreed to the voluntary agreement with their 32,940 subcontractors. The commission grades the activities of the companies on regular basis and offer preferential treatment to those who score high.

According to the FTS, LG Innotek earned more than 90 points out of the total 100 for its efforts supporting small- and medium-size subcontractors to develop their original technologies and lending money to them at a lower interest rate through a special fund.

Five other companies such as Daelim and Samsung Engineering also received good reviews, the FTS said.

The antitrust watchdog also found that the economic effect that 21 conglomerates have offered to their subcontractors was estimated to reach about 255 billion won.

Eighteen companies, including LG Innotek, provided support worth about 22.1 billion won to their 539 subcontractors, while 12 companies voluntarily offered an additional 32.9 billion won by raising the payment for deliveries amid soaring raw material costs.

The FTS plans to conduct two more evaluations this year on 25 companies and to encourage companies to renew the agreement details after receiving an evaluation.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)