BlackRock-TiL-led consortium targets $22.8B Panama port acquisition amid geopolitical uncertainty

A consortium led by American asset management giant BlackRock and Switzerland-based Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) have revealed intentions to buy the majority of port holdings belonging to Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison in a deal estimated at $22.8 billion.

According to a joint statement by the parties, the BlackRock-TiL-led consortium and CK Hutchison have reached in principle agreements whereby the former would acquire:

• 90% of Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) interests in the Panama Ports Company, part of HPH, which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal, located on either side of the Panama Canal;
• 80% of CK Hutchison’s effective and controlling interest in subsidiary and associated companies, along with all HPH’s management resources, operations, terminal operating systems, IT and other systems, and other assets appertaining to control and operations of those ports.

As informed, the latter does not include any interest in the HPH Trust, which operates ports in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China as well as the south of China or any other ports in the Far Eastern nation.

The transaction’s definitive documentation is expected to be signed in early April 2025. It is now subject to approval by the government of Panama.

Speaking on behalf of Terminal Investment Limited, Chairman of TiL and President of the MSC Group Diego Aponte highlighted: “Our relationship with Hutchison Ports goes back a long way and is a relationship of mutual respect and friendship. Furthermore, we are very pleased to partner with BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), with whom we share a longstanding relationship.”

“We are very focused on this industry, and we know that the investment in Hutchison Ports will be a very viable investment commercially,” Aponte added.

Co-managing director of CK Hutchison Frank Sixt revealed that the deal with BlackRock and TiL was the result of a “rapid” and “competitive” process, underscoring that the development was guided by economic rationale and corporate strategy rather than factors beyond the scope of the transaction—as some analyses following the early rumors regarding the sale hinted.

“I would like to stress that the Transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports,” Sixt stated.

Indeed, the first quarter of 2025 has so far been rather tumultuous for the Panama Canal, which has (once again) found itself at the center of an “age-old” narrative pertaining to the ‘growing influence’ of China and Chinese-owned companies, hailed as a ‘threat’ to the United States, its interests in Panama as well as the nation’s own position in the maritime industry.

Namely, CK Hutchison’s ownership of the Panamanian ports has been a subject of contention between the country’s government, as well as the canal’s governing body, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), and newly (re)elected US President Donald Trump who, immediately upon taking the helm of the United States for the second time, in January this year, pledged to ‘take the gift [Panama] back’.

“Panama’s promise to us has been broken. China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” President Trump said in his first address to the nation.

At a press conference in January, just days before his inauguration, Trump had reiterated his intention to ‘settle’ the matter, saying he would ‘not rule out’ using military or economic coercion to achieve this goal.

The ACP, which is an autonomous government entity, as well as the presidential administration of Panama immediately rejected the claims, with President José Raúl Mulino stressing that there was “no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration” and that, despite threats coming from the nation’s northern ‘neighbor’, Panama Canal’s sovereignty ‘was not and will not be up for debate’.

The new US presidential administration, however, remained unconvinced and the rising pressure, paired with global uncertainty, led to a major development at the beginning of February.

Namely, in the first week of the month, Panama announced that it would not renew the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with China under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), envisioned to boost trade and infrastructure cooperation.

The development came following the official visit of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who traveled to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic from February 1 to February 6.

Regurgitating President Trump’s assertions of China’s dominance, Rubio called the situation “unacceptable” and a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal.

Against the backdrop of this development, another area of discord started to surface. On February 5, the US State Department proclaimed that, from that point onward, US navy vessels would no longer be paying any fees to transit the Panama Canal – a deal that was described as ‘essential’ for the relations between the two countries.

Although the State Department argued that this would save Americans ‘millions of dollars’, the ACP flatly rejected all of the claims, arguing that no fee modifications were made, despite the (false) information going around.

At the end of that same month, however, Panama’s Attorney General Luis Carlos Gómez is said to have weighed the debate over China’s control of the canal, reportedly asking the country’s Supreme Court to declare the contract with Hutchison Port Holdings “unconstitutional”.

As disclosed, Gómez also called for the termination of the concession agreement with the Hong Kong-headquartered company that received a no-bid 25-year-long contract extension in 2021.

It was not long before the ‘rumor’ regarding BlackRock-TiL’s intention to buy CK Hutchison’s shares was confirmed. President Trump immediately welcomed this decision, emphasizing in his March 4, 2025 speech to Congress that his administration “will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we have already started doing it.”

“Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal and a couple of other canals. The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others. But others could use it,” Trump stated.

President Mulino said Trump was “lying again” in a post published on X (formerly Twitter): “I reject, on behalf of Panama and all Panamanians, this new affront to the truth and to our dignity as a nation. The Panama Canal is not in the process of being reclaimed.”

This content is available after accepting the cookies.

Change cookie-settings View on Twitter.

Completed in 1914, the Panama Canal drastically reduced maritime travel time and reshaped global trade routes. It remained under US control until 1999 before being handed over to Panama following the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed in 1977.

The canal has played a big role in sustaining the United States’ trade with the US said to be its largest user. More precisely, according to the ACP, 52% of transits had ports of origin or destination in the USA in 2024, while more than 76% of the cargo had the United States as its origin or destination.

Despite climate change-related hurdles, the canal closed FY2024 with a total revenue of 4.99 billion PAB (approximately $4.89 billion), around 209 million PAB above budget and 18 million PAB more than the previous year. Although deep-draft transits experienced a decline, the ACP shared back in October 2024 that there had been 9,944 ship transits that year, of which 2,856 were Neo Panamax and the remaining 7,088 were Panamaxes.

In line with worldwide sustainability guidelines and initiatives, the Panama Canal Authority has also embarked on numerous endeavors to push forward its own decarbonization ambitions. At a November 2024 conference in Houston, Texas, canal administrator Ricaurte Vásquez unveiled plans to diversify the ACP’s operations and support Panama’s role as an “integral” shipping hub.

Seeking to further strengthen relations, between March 3 and March 5, 2025, Vásquez paid a visit to Japan where, at a “Facing the challenges of LPG trade flows” conference in Tokyo, he reaffirmed Panama’s relationship with the Asian nation, which is reportedly the canal’s third largest customer.

As informed, event attendees were primarily focused on reinforcing the significance of international collaboration to ensure ‘efficient and sustainable’ trade flows of liquefied petroleum gas.

In addition to this, however, it is understood that the Panamanian representative(s) sought to further enhance maritime cooperation with Japan, especially amid mounting challenges caused by geopolitical tensions and climate-driven disruptions.