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According to the agreement, Hong Kong Hutchison Hong Kong owner will sell a business consortium business, including Blackrock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited, a company statement said on Tuesday. The group would have acquired a 90 percent stake in the company owned and managing two ports in Panama.
Trump often claimed that ‘China is managing Panama -Canal“And Panama rushed, when he threatened to” return it “under US control earlier this year. Trump administration also demanded that Panama reduce China’s influence on the channel, saying that Beijing’s involvement in the ports violated the contract regarding her neutrality.
The transaction announced on Tuesday also includes 80 -percent package Ck hutchisonPorts, which operate 43 ports in 23 countries, including in the UK and Germany. It also manages ports in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Mexico and Australia.
The remaining 20 -percent psa stock is owned by Temasek, Singapore Sovereignty Fund.
CK Hutchison said it is expected to receive cash exceeding $ 19 billion from a transaction, a figure that includes repayment of some shareholders’ loans. CK Hutchison’s market capitalization is HK $ 148 billion ($ 19 billion).
The cost of the group’s shares in the morning trading in Hong Kong increased by 22 percent.
Trump’s victory in November and his US calls to return control over the channel pushed CK Hutchison to consider the sale, causing a short and intensive negotiation period, people informed on discussions report.
“When President Trump won, and he started making noise on the annexation of Canada and Greenland and Panama, the pressure was put on the Panamans,” one person was acquainted with the transaction. The man added that CK Hutchison “realized it was a political head and they wanted to do something.”
In order to navigate the potential political fall, BlackRock Executive Director Larry Fink informed the senior leaders of the Trump administration, including the president to provide their support for absorption, two people said on this issue. One of the people added that the consortium would not go forward with its application if the US government would not support this deal.
The richest Hong Kong Li Co-Shing and his family, CK Hutchison, has a portfolio of ports, retailers, telecommunications and other infrastructure. Port operations amounted to about 9 percent of the total CK Hutchison income of $ 461.6 billion in 2023.
The channel became a Flash point in the first weeks of Trump as if he wants to expand the US borders and take control of infrastructure assets – to play allies and countries that have been increasing free trade.
The BlackRock deal occurs after the acquisition of the GIP asset manager, which helped make it a force in investment in the infrastructure.
The strategically important water route is run by Panama -Canal, the hand of the Panama government. It was built by US engineers and managed by the United States from its opening in 1914 to the treaty in 1977, agreed with the delivery of the Panama transfer, which was completed in 1999.
Hutconson Parts, one of the world’s largest container terminals operators, managed the ports at any end of the channel since 1997 according to the Panama Government.
Services often attract political comments from US politicians who claim the role of CK Hutchison means China, which manages the channel.
Services mainly act as transport ports, where containers move between ships moving along the canal and smaller “feeders” ships that change to the places around the Caribbean and the Pacific coast of South and Central America.
CK Hutchison organized a new concession in 2021 to continue working for another 25 years.
Additional report by Robert Wright in London
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2025-03-05 01:54:00
