Thai flat steelmaker Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI) has announced its delisting from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) effective 11 July. Cost problems and high debts and interest have weighed on the company for several years, Kallanish notes.

The trigger for this decision was that shareholders' equity fell below zero, according to the SET document. At the end of the trading period on 10 July, SET will delist the common shares of SSI from its listed securities.

As early as April of this year, SSI cancelled its plan to repay its debts monthly between March 2020 and December 2020, impacting ten monthly payments. It said that Covid-19 has shut down much of the private sector in the country and is impacting demand.

SSI is the major producer and distributor of hot rolled coil in Thailand, with a maximum production capacity of 4 million tonnes/year. The steelmaker entered restructuring in late 2016 and control was passed to creditors Krung Thai Bank, The Siam Commercial Bank, TISCO Bank and CIMB Thai Bank, taking over major stakes in the company.

According to SSI's internal data, it incurred a loss for the year ended 2019 ‎of THB 1.78 billion ($57.34 million), and had negative shareholders' equity of THB 41.26 billion.