Spanish firm risks US$574m loss over Panama Canal spat

[MADRID] Sacyr, the Spanish building company leading a consortium to expand the Panama Canal, said it risks losing US$574 million in guarantees and advance payments if a spat over cost overruns at the multi-billion dollar project is not resolved.

In an eight-page document sent on Friday to Spain's stock market regulator but which had not been made public until Saturday, the firm also detailed for the first time its claims of US$1.6 billion in extra costs and said the canal extension would not be completed until June 30, 2015, at the earliest.

The consortium warned earlier this month it would halt work from Jan 20 on a third set of locks for the century-old waterway, one of the world's largest building contracts, unless the Panama Canal Authority footed the bill.