Thailand’s largest construction company faces $4b debt crunch as some overseas projects fail

A cash crunch at Thailand’s largest construction company is fuelling concern among investors, regulators and rating agencies already unnerved by a series of local corporate scandals and debt defaults.

Italian-Thai Development confirmed on March 13 reports that it is in talks with banks for new loans to tide over the liquidity crisis that led to delayed payments to some workers and contractors.

Trading of shares in Italian-Thai, which had total liabilities of 108 billion baht (S$4.03 billion) including bonds, loans and trade credit as at Sept 30, was suspended in March 2024 after the contractor missed the deadline for submitting its full-year 2023 financial statement.

The contractor posted a cumulative loss of about six billion baht from 2020 to 2022 as it took on engineering projects in places including India, Taiwan and Myanmar – where imposition of military rule led to…