China to review sale of Panama Canal shipping terminals to US investor

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation had posted comments on its website that it planned to review the US$23bn sale by Hong Kong-based logistics company CK Hutchison to BlackRock and Geneva-based ocean carrier MSC, the 28 March report said.

The review was first reported by the Financial Times, which added that such a review of Hong Kong companies was out of the ordinary.

According to earlier reports, Hutchison – controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing – would not sign off on the deal on 2 April as first announced on 4 March when it proposed selling control of its Hutchison Port Holdings marine terminals outside China to BlackRock and TiL, the terminals arm of container liner operator MSC.

The sale, which includes terminal operations at the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal in Panama, followed comments by US President Donald Trump that the USA should retake control of the Panama Canal, FreightWaves wrote.

CK Hutchison has been operating the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal at the canal’s Pacific and Atlantic entrances for more than two decades, according to a 5 March report by The Guardian.

Panama is also looking into the Hutchison port concessions, according to the FreightWaves report.

The delay followed weeks of public opposition to the sale by Beijing, the report said.

However, the agreement has not been scrapped, according to report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Mustafa Riffat, managing director of BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners investment unit, confirmed to FreightWaves that the proposed sale only included terminals, and that the company would have no other comment.

CK Hutchison had not immediately responded to requests for comment, the report said.

Tags: China, BlackRock, Panama Canal, ports, shipping terminals, Hutchison, MSC