US investment firm BlackRock, which is leading a consortium seeking to buy 43 ports from Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings, aims to take control of its two strategic Panama Canal facilities while Italy’s wealthy Aponte family will have a majority stake in the others, the Post has learned.
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A source close to the transaction said on Monday that the consortium of BlackRock, its subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners and the Aponte family’s Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) was buying the portfolio for US$23 billion, but the US firm aimed to take a 51 per cent stake in Hutchison’s interest in the two Panama ports.
Geneva-based TiL would have a majority interest in the other 41 ports, which CK Hutchison does not wholly own either. CK Hutchison effectively has an 80 per cent interest in the 43 ports.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison expects to receive US$19 billion in cash upon completion of the deal. Beijing has expressed unhappiness over the sale of the two Panama Canal ports, suggesting it will hurt the national interest.
Analysts said dividing ownership of the ports would not change Beijing’s opposition to the deal because CK Hutchison should not sell the strategic assets to Western countries vulnerable to pressure from the United States.
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The Panama ports are an additional source of friction between Washington and Beijing, with US President Donald Trump vowing several times to take back control of the canal from what he claimed was China’s influence. Beijing has ramped up pressure on Hutchison about selling the assets to a US entity.