CK Hutchison sells Panama Canal ports to BlackRock amid Trump pressure

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. 

A consortium including BlackRock Inc., Global Infrastructure Partners, and Terminal Investment Ltd. reached a deal in principle to acquire units that hold 80 per cent of the Hutchison Ports group, which operates 43 ports in 23 countries. The consortium will also acquire 90% of Panama Ports Co., which operates the two ports in Balboa and Cristobal. The transactions will deliver cash proceeds of $19 billion to CK Hutchison, the company said Tuesday in a statement.  

 

Trump has said he wants the US to regain control of the Panama Canal, which was handed over to the local government in 1999, arguing without evidence that China has taken over the waterway. Panama’s government had been weighing whether to cancel its contract with CK Hutchison to operate the ports, Bloomberg reported last month. 

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.