In early March, Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison agreed to divest the majority of its global port assets to the Blackrock-TiL consortium in a USD22.8 billion deal. The transaction included control of several terminal operations and a significant stake in Panama Ports Company. However, reports have since emerged that Hutchison will no longer sell its Panama Canal-adjacent assets. The deal has also drawn scrutiny from Chinese regulators, who are expected to launch an antitrust review.
In March, Blackrock-TiL said it would acquire CK Hutchison’s 80 percent effective and controlling interest in subsidiary and associated companies, along with all Hutchison Port Holding’s (HPH) management resources, operations, terminal operating systems, IT systems, and other assets relating to control and operations of those ports, in a deal worth USD22.8 billion. Blackrock-TiL was also set to also acquire HPH’s 90 percent interests in Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama.
At the time of the announcement, co-managing director of CK Hutchison Frank Sixt, added that “the transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports.”
The Panamanian authorities came under fire from US president Donald Trump in the first quarter of 2025. He claimed that the USA would take the waterway back under its control in a bid to diminish China’s influence there. There was little in the way of hard policy as to how this would be achieved. According to Reuters, Chinese regulators were set to conduct an antitrust review regarding the sale of Panama Ports Company, and sources close to the deal said it would not go ahead.
