BlackRock has agreed to buy two major ports at the Panama Canal from their Hong Kong-based owner, following pressure from Donald Trump over alleged Chinese influence at the vital waterway.
In apparent reference to the ports, the US president has frequently alleged that “China is running the Panama Canal”, adding last month that “we’re going to take it back, or something very powerful is going to happen”.
The ports’ Hong Kong-based owner CK Hutchison will sell the business to a consortium including BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment, according to a company statement on Tuesday.
In a large-scale investment in the sector, the consortium will acquire a 90 per cent stake in the CK Hutchison subsidiary that operates the two ports in Panama.
The deal also includes an 80 per cent stake of CK Hutchison’s ports subsidiaries, which run 43 ports in 23 countries, including the UK and in Germany.
This is a developing story