CK Hutchison Eyes 'Major' Chinese Investor For Panama Ports Deal
The firm said in March it was offloading the ports -- including operations in the vital Central American waterway -- to a group led by asset manager BlackRock for $19 billion in cash.
The sale was seen as a political victory for US President Donald Trump, who had vowed to "take back" the Panama Canal from alleged Chinese control, prompting Beijing's ire.
China's market regulator said in March it was reviewing the deal.
"(CK Hutchison) remains in discussions with members of the consortium with a view to inviting (a) major strategic investor from (China) to join as a significant member of the consortium," CK Hutchison said in a stock exchange filing Monday.
The firm added that changes to the consortium's membership and deal structure will be needed for the deal "to be capable of being approved by all relevant authorities".
It said the "period for exclusive negotiations" mentioned in the March announcement had expired, but discussions will continue.
It did not name the major investor.
China's biggest shipping company Cosco was set to join the consortium and was requesting veto rights or equivalent powers, Bloomberg News reported.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Denise Wong told the outlet that "ongoing negotiations and the reported inclusion of Cosco Shipping in the consortium have likely eased concerns over Chinese regulatory hurdles, strengthening investor confidence in the deal's viability".
Gary Ng, senior economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis, said Monday's developments show that "business deals can be increasingly subject to politics in the new economic and geopolitical reality" as the Hong Kong conglomerate seeks to "keep everyone happy".
CK Hutchison said it "intends to allow such time as is required for such discussions to achieve" a workable arrangement.
It said it had stated on several occasions that it "will not proceed with any transaction that does not have the approval of all relevant authorities".
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Beijing will "carry out supervision in accordance with the law, firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintain a fair and just market".
CK Hutchison's Hong Kong-listed shares fell 0.84 percent on Monday, while Cosco dropped 2.85 percent.
The consortium's original structure was designed to pass control of CK Hutchison's two Panama ports to BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners unit, while the remaining ports will go to Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte's Terminal Investment Limited.
AFP has contacted Cosco for comment.
The Panama Ports Company, a CK Hutchison subsidiary, has managed the port of Cristobal on the canal's Atlantic side and Balboa on the Pacific side since 1997, via a concession from the Panama government.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Local Germany
17 minutes ago
- Local Germany
Germany factory output hits lowest level since Covid pandemic
Factory output fell 1.9 percent month-on-month, federal statistics agency Destatis said, steeper than a drop of 0.5 percent forecast by analysts polled by financial data firm FactSet. There were particularly heavy falls in the machinery and pharmaceutical sectors, helping to drag overall output down to levels last seen in May 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Destatis also made a major revision to May industrial production data, saying the indicator fell 0.1 percent. It had previously reported a healthy rise of 1.2 percent. ING bank analyst Carsten Brzeski said the dire data could prompt a downward revision to an already poor initial estimate showing that the economy shrank slightly in the second quarter. "This is bad news," he said. "At face value, industry remains stuck in a very long bottoming out." EXPLAINED: How will the new US tariffs affect Germany? Political setback Fixing the eurozone's traditional export powerhouse has been a key priority for Germany's new conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with the economy battered in recent years by high energy costs and fierce Chinese competition. Plans to spend hundreds of billions of euros on infrastructure upgrades and rearmament -- combined with a series of brighter data releases since the start of the year -- had raised hopes that the worst might be over for Europe's export champion. German business morale rose to its highest level in July after seven straight increases, while think tanks including the respected DIW institute have revised growth forecasts up for 2025 and 2026. But hard data on business activity has not been as rosy, raising fears that the improved mood was down to unfounded optimism. Experts say better data early in the year was the temporary effect of US "front-loading" as American customers rushed to get orders in before Trump's tariffs took effect. Advertisement "Optimism still seems to be based on a big portion of wishful thinking and is not at all matched by current data," Brzeski said. "For now, what looked like a cyclical rebound in the making has only been US front-loading." Tariff troubles A new baseline US levy of 15 percent on EU exports took effect Thursday, up from 10 percent in effect since April, stiffening the tariff faced by Germany's exporters even while leaving many of them mired in uncertainty. READ ALSO: Kitas and Deutschlandticket - What Germany plans to spend money on in 2026 Export data released Thursday showed that German exports in June to the United States -- the country's biggest trading partner -- fell 2.1 percent, even as they rose 0.8 percent worldwide. And data released Wednesday showed that industrial orders -- closely watched as an indicator of future business activity -- fell 1.0 percent month-on-month in June, after dropping 0.8 percent in May. Advertisement The United States is also carrying out investigations into sectors including pharmaceuticals and semiconductor equipment, heightening worries about worse to come. "The tariffs are a big burden for German companies," the head of the German chambers of commerce, Helena Melnikov, told AFP. "Don't forget that tariffs were usually between zero and about two percent at the most beforehand." "It could even come out worse for a variety of sectors because negotiations are ongoing," she added. "It is a real setback and makes it harder to do business in Germany."
Int'l Business Times
2 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Germany Factory Output Lowest Since Pandemic In 2020
German industrial production slumped in June to its lowest level since the pandemic in 2020, data showed Thursday, underlining the fragility of Europe's top economy even before US President Donald Trump's new tariffs kicked in. Factory output fell 1.9 percent month-on-month, federal statistics agency Destatis said, steeper than a drop of 0.5 percent forecast by analysts polled by financial data firm FactSet. There were particularly heavy falls in the machinery and pharmaceutical sectors, helping to drag overall output down to levels last seen in May 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Destatis also made a major revision to May industrial production data, saying the indicator fell 0.1 percent. It had previously reported a healthy rise of 1.2 percent. ING bank analyst Carsten Brzeski said the dire data could prompt a downward revision to an already poor initial estimate showing that the economy shrank slightly in the second quarter. "This is bad news," he said. "At face value, industry remains stuck in a very long bottoming out." Fixing the eurozone's traditional export powerhouse has been a key priority for Germany's new conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with the economy battered in recent years by high energy costs and fierce Chinese competition. Plans to spend hundreds of billions of euros on infrastructure upgrades and rearmament -- combined with a series of brighter data releases since the start of the year -- had raised hopes that the worst might be over for Europe's export champion. German business morale rose to its highest level in July after seven straight increases, while think tanks including the respected DIW institute have revised growth forecasts up for 2025 and 2026. But hard data on business activity has not been as rosy, raising fears that the improved mood was down to unfounded optimism. Experts say better data early in the year was the temporary effect of US "front-loading" as American customers rushed to get orders in before Trump's tariffs took effect. "Optimism still seems to be based on a big portion of wishful thinking and is not at all matched by current data," Brzeski said. "For now, what looked like a cyclical rebound in the making has only been US front-loading." A new baseline US levy of 15 percent on EU exports took effect Thursday, up from 10 percent in effect since April, stiffening the tariff faced by Germany's exporters even while leaving many of them mired in uncertainty. Export data released Thursday showed that German exports in June to the United States -- the country's biggest trading partner -- fell 2.1 percent, even as they rose 0.8 percent worldwide. And data released Wednesday showed that industrial orders -- closely watched as an indicator of future business activity -- fell 1.0 percent month-on-month in June, after dropping 0.8 percent in May. The United States is also carrying out investigations into sectors including pharmaceuticals and semiconductor equipment, heightening worries about worse to come. "The tariffs are a big burden for German companies," the head of the German chambers of commerce, Helena Melnikov, told AFP. "Don't forget that tariffs were usually between zero and about two percent at the most beforehand." "It could even come out worse for a variety of sectors because negotiations are ongoing," she added. "It is a real setback and makes it harder to do business in Germany."
Int'l Business Times
2 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Thailand And Cambodia Agree To Extend Peace Pact
Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Thursday to extend a shaky ceasefire deal that followed five days of deadly hostilities along their border last month. At least 43 people were killed in the conflict that ended on Tuesday last week after a long-standing dispute over border temples erupted into violence. A truce was brokered by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim -- chair of the ASEAN regional bloc -- after cajoling by US President Donald Trump and a team of Chinese mediators. The deal dictated a ceasefire, followed by a meeting of rival regional commanders, before defence officials held three days of talks in Kuala Lumpur that concluded with a joint statement on Thursday. "Both sides agree to a ceasefire involving all types of weapons, including attacks on civilians and civilian objects and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas," it said. "This agreement must not be violated under any circumstances." In the first days of the truce, both Thailand and Cambodia accused each other of breaching the deal with limited skirmishes along their shared 800-kilometre (500-mile) border, though clashes quickly dropped off. The joint statement signed by Thai Deputy Defence Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit and Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Seiha said they had agreed to continue a freeze on border troop movements and patrols. "We are here for a detailed ceasefire arrangement to stop bloodshed and the suffering by soldiers and civilians of both sides," Tea Seiha told reporters at a news conference. "The steps are life-saving measures and lay groundwork for restoring confidence, trust, and normalcy between our two countries." The statement scheduled another meeting within a month and said both sides would also "agree to refrain from disseminating false information or fake news in order to de-escalate tensions". "In order for our discussions today to result in concrete outcomes, both sides needed to show cooperation and sincerity," Natthaphon told reporters. The contested temples are claimed by both nations because of a vague demarcation made by Cambodia's French colonial administrators in 1907. Last month's clashes were the deadliest in the region in more than a decade and forced more than 300,000 people to flee combat areas on both sides of the border.
