Beijing Fumes Over BlackRock’s Panama Port Deal With CK Hutchison

China’s top office on Hong Kong affairs reposted sharp criticism of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.’s deal with a BlackRock-led consortium to purchase Panama Canal ports. The commentary from the local paper Ta Kung Pao cited netizens who called the billionaire founder of the holdings company “spineless” and questioned which “side he should stand on,” according to Bloomberg.

It said that social media users have accused the conglomerate founded by billionaire Li Ka-shing of “spineless groveling,” ignoring China’s interests and “selling out all Chinese people” in the quick deal announced last week.

…

Faced with such a major event and a matter of great justice, the relevant companies should think twice, think carefully about the nature and crux of the issue, and think carefully about what position and side they should stand on,” the commentary said. -BBG

Last week, the BlackRock-led consortium agreed to purchase a controlling stake in CK Hutchison’s Panama ports for $19 billion. The Trump administration had highly publicized the Chinese-owned ports as a national security risk to US supply chains and the US military. Additionally, Panama holds a strategic position for Trump as he begins to revive hemispheric defense across the Americas.

David Blennerhassett, an analyst at Quiddity Advisors, noted that the BlackRock deal with CK Hutchison is a “massive complex deal, one that may take the better part of 2025 to complete; therefore gyrations in the share price will occur as deal specifics and various regulatory approvals are addressed.”

On Friday, CK Hutchison shares dropped 7% in Hong Kong trading.

Local paper Ta Kung Pao continued: “Faced with such a major event and a matter of great justice, the relevant companies should think twice, think carefully about the nature and crux of the issue, and think carefully about what position and side they should stand on.”

Bloomberg noted the port deal “involves only overseas assets” and is “unlikely to need Beijing’s sign-off.” 

Bloomberg Intelligence infrastructure analyst Denise Wong said the port deal is “widely perceived as commercially favorable for the company, valuing the port assets at the higher end of the industry range.”

CK Hutchison’s market capitalization has only increased by $5 billion following last week’s initial news release—just a fraction of the $19 billion the firm is expected to receive when the port deal is completed.