In a blockbuster deal that could shift the balance of power in global port operations, a consortium of U.S. private equity firm BlackRock and MSC of Geneva has agreed to purchase the non-Chinese assets of Hong Kong-based subsidiary Hutchison Port Holdings, including terminals at the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama.
The news follows disputed claims by President Donald Trump that the Chinese military was controlling the Panama Canal, and that American vessels were being cheated on transit tolls. Trump also threatened U.S. action to wrest control of the waterway, a key route for military and merchant vessels between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which was handed over to Panama in 1999.
In a release, Hutchison (0001.HK) denied that the sale was a result of political pressure.
The U.S. on Tuesday doubled to 20% tariffs on Chinese goods in an effort to force Beijing to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.
After Trump pressure, China sells Panama port terminals to US private equity firm, MSC
