Construction giant ITD adds to Thailand’s corporate debt woes

BANGKOK — Bangkok-listed construction giant Italian-Thai Development will on Wednesday ask bondholders to delay debenture payments for two years, becoming the latest Thai company to suffer debt problems amid high interest rates and low market liquidity.

The price of ITD shares has fallen by 28% since Jan. 5, the trading day before the company filed the notice to bondholders during the market lunch break on Jan. 8. The company has outstanding bonds worth 14.5 billion baht ($414 million), with the tranche in question worth 2 billion baht and due on Feb. 15. Two other series are due later this year, part of the nearly 1 trillion baht ($25.4 billion) worth of Thai corporate bonds maturing in the next 12 months.