(Jan 28): Thailand’s largest construction company, which is under investigation for its role in two deadly accidents, won investor approval to restructure its outstanding bonds.
Italian-Thai Development pcl received bondholders’ consent to extend the maturity of five notes totalling 14.5 billion baht by three years, the company said in an exchange filing Wednesday (Jan 28). The debt securities, which were originally due between 2026 and 2028, will carry higher interest and provide partial principal payment before maturity in return for the approval, it said.
Italian-Thai’s restructuring request came weeks after the Thai government ordered the nation’s top construction company by revenue to suspend work at more than a dozen infrastructure projects after crane crashes at two projects killed 34 people. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he wants the government to terminate Italian-Thai’s contracts for the projects where the crane accidents occurred.
Italian-Thai, founded in 1958 by Chaijudh Karnasuta, a Thai national, and Italian Giorgio Berlingieri, has pushed back on such statements. The company said earlier this month that both agreements including one to build a section of the China-backed high-speed rail network in the northeast of the country are legally binding and it continues to perform its obligations.
The crane collapse this month onto a moving express train killed at least 32 people and injured dozens, sparking a public outcry and calls from political parties for action against the company.
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The firm had already been grappling with a liquidity crunch that has forced it to offload investments including a cement business in India and a mining unit in Thailand.
Italian-Thai president Premchai Karnasuta was among more than 20 individuals and related parties to be indicted by Thai prosecutors for their links to the collapse of a partly finished government building in Bangkok that killed 89 workers following an earthquake last March.
The contractor racked up losses of about 13 billion baht from 2020 to 2024 as it took on engineering projects including in India, Taiwan and Myanmar — where the imposition of military rule led to delays and write-downs. Italian-Thai posted a net income of 7.4 billion baht in the first nine months of 2025, boosted by gains from the sale of an overseas unit, even as revenue from construction continued to slump.
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The company’s shares have slumped 12% this year. A sustained sell-off in Italian-Thai’s stock has seen the firm’s market value shrink to about one billion baht from 12 billion baht in 2021.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow
