Astaldi bet on a Turkish bridge — then Turkey's economy crashed and took the company

Astaldi was an Italian multinational construction company founded in 1929. Over eight decades it built metro systems in Rome, Milan, Copenhagen and Warsaw, dams in Sicily, and the Arena Națională in Bucharest. By the 2010s it was one of Italy's largest contractors, with major projects across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

In 2016 Astaldi completed the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge — the Third Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul — as part of a consortium. The company held a 33.3% stake in the bridge concession, expecting to sell it and use the proceeds to reduce its €1.9 billion debt. The sale was a condition for a planned €300 million capital raise that would have stabilised the company's finances.

In 2018 the Turkish lira crashed amid political turmoil and a diplomatic crisis with the United States. The bridge sale stalled as buyers pulled out of the Turkish market. Without the sale proceeds, the capital raise collapsed. In September 2018 Astaldi filed for concordato in bianco — an in-court creditor protection proceeding — with €1.9 billion in debt. The Rome court accepted the filing in October 2018.

Astaldi's creditors included €620 million in revolving credit facilities and €750 million in bonds. The company was eventually restructured and in November 2020 Webuild (formerly Salini Impregilo) acquired a 65% stake. The original shareholders were largely wiped out. A company that had built infrastructure across four continents was brought down by a single bridge stake in a single country.