CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., the Hong Kong-based conglomerate, agreed to sell control of a unit that operates ports near the Panama Canal after pressure from US President Donald Trump to limit Chinese interests in the region.
The agreement was reached alongside a deal in principle for a consortium led by BlackRock Inc. to acquire units that hold 80% of the Hutchison Ports group, which operates 43 ports in 23 countries, the company said Tuesday in a statement. BlackRock Inc. and its Global Infrastructure Partners unit, along with Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s ports division, will also acquire 90% of Panama Ports Co., which operates the two entryways in Balboa and Cristobal.
CK Hutchison said it would receive cash proceeds of about $19 billion from the broader ports deal. It also removes itself from a major headache, since Panama’s government had been weighing whether to cancel the company’s contract to operate the ports, Bloomberg reported last month. The government had also initiated an audit on the contract.
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“Hutchison could see the writing on the wall, that strategically it was best for them as well for Panama to pursue its interests elsewhere,” said Evan Ellis, Latin America Research Professor with the US Army War College.
The deal could also relieve pressure on Panama President Jose Raul Mulino, who has been attempting to ward off Trump’s designs on control of the Panama Canal, which was handed over to the local government in 1999. Trump has argued without evidence that China has taken over the waterway and that the US was paying too much for the passage of government ships.
“It’s positive to the extent it helps Mulino to diminish Chinese footprint in Panama and placate Trump,” said Risa Grais-Targow, director for Latin America at Eurasia Group.
The White House and Panama’s presidential office had no immediate comment. The Trump administration and members of the US Congress were briefed on the agreement, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Hutchison has run the ports in Panama’s Balboa and Cristobal under a concession that was first signed in 1997 and, in 2021, extended until 2047. The acquisition of the ports will require government sign-off, BlackRock said.
The transaction represents the largest infrastructure deal in BlackRock’s history after it bought infrastructure specialist GIP last year in a push further into private markets. BlackRock shares fell 3.1% to $936.66 at 10:45 a.m. in New York, slumping along with the rest of the market amid an escalating trade war. CK Hutchinson’s American depositary receipts jumped 6.2% to $5.28.
“This agreement is a powerful illustration of BlackRock and GIP’s combined platform and our ability to deliver differentiated investments for clients,” BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said in a statement. “We are increasingly the first call for partners seeking patient, long-term capital.”
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