Investments by the top 30 conglomerates this year up to the third quarter showed a 24% drop compared with the same period last year, a tally from a corporate tracker showed Tuesday.

    The 30 business groups, who control 257 affiliates, invested 45.33 trillion won about (US$38.83 billion) in tangible and intangible assets in the January-September period, a fall from 59.64 trillion won for the same months last year, according to CEO Score.

    Of the 14.31 trillion-won difference, 92.7% of the amount was due to the holdback by the top three players Samsung, Hyundai Motor and SK whose investment drop together exceeded 10 trillion won, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) News Agency.

    The tally said 18 of the top 30 conglomerates lessened their investments this year. The top three conglomerates spent 26.36 trillion won in investments up to September this year, equal to 58.2% of the total by 30 business groups. The amount, however, is 33.5% down from last year, according to the tally. 

    Hyundai Motor withdrew the most with a 9.43 trillion-won drop, a fall of 61.8%. Samsung was second with 2.21 trillion won for a 13.5 % drop.