Hong Kong conglomerate to sell Panama Canal ports to US firms
Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings has reached a preliminary agreement to sell 90 percent of its Hong Kong ports unit to Balboa and Cristonal, in Panama, to a consortium composed of the American investment companies BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Terminal Investment Ltd (TIL), a group based in Switzerland which is part of the Italian shipowner's MSC shipping company Gianluigi Aponte, Agenzia Nova reports.
BlackRock, Gip and Til will acquire 80 percent of Hutchison Ports, which operates 43 ports in 23 countries, and 90 percent of Panama Ports Company, the company that operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, at the Pacific and Atlantic entrances of the Panama Canal, respectively.
The operation, which will guarantee CK Hutchison 17,5 billion euros, comes in the context of pressure exerted by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for Washington to regain control of the Panama Canal, which was handed over to the local government in 1999. The head of the White House has on several occasions accused the Panamanian authorities of having ceded control of the canal to China.
Last month, Panama's prosecutor's office requested the revocation of the concession for the ports of Balboa and Cristobal to CK Hutchison, signed in 1997 and renewed in 2021 until 2047.
Earlier, it was reported that former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama Erika Mouynes has provided a comment on the Panama’s position regarding the canal’s ownership and operation during her participation in the Munich Security Conference.
As reported previously, U.S. President Donald Trump has sparked global concern with his bold ambitions of regaining control the Panama Canal.
