BlackRock makes Oman foray with indirect stake acquisition in Hutchison Ports
MUSCAT, MARCH 9
Global asset manager BlackRock is set to make its debut in the Sultanate of Oman with the indirect acquisition of a major stake in Hutchison Ports Sohar, the owner and operator of Sohar Port's container terminal.
It follows last week's announcement by the consortium of BlackRock and Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), a subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), that it has reached in-principle agreements to acquire an 80 per cent controlling interest in Hong Kong based global multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison. Hutchison Ports Holdings (HPH), a global operator of ports and terminals (including Hutchison Ports Sohar), is a subsidiary of CK Hutchison.
Under the provisional agreements, the BlackRock — TiL consortium will acquire 80 per cent of CK Hutchison's interests in a vast portfolio of subsidiary and associated companies owning, operating and developing a total of 43 ports comprising 199 berths in 23 countries. Included in this list is Hutchison Ports Sohar (previously known as Oman International Container Terminal — OICT).
Collectively dubbed the 'HPH Ports Sale Perimeter' transaction, the aggregate enterprise value of this global deal (which includes Panama Ports in Panama) has been agreed at $22.8 billion. The parties have set an April 2, 2025 deadline for the formalisation of the transaction, pending regulatory approvals where applicable.
Significantly, Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) is the world's 6th largest global container terminals group, with a portfolio of terminals located on the key trades served by the world's largest shipping line, the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). TiL is part of the portfolio of Global Investment Partners (GIP), a leading global infrastructure investor with around $170 billion in assets under management. These assets are distribution across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure, decarbonisation, and water and waste management sectors. Just last October, GIP was formally acquired by BlackRock.
Summing up the beneficial implications of these transactions for maritime assets served by TiL and MSC, GIP Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bayo Ogunlesi said: 'We are delighted to partner with Terminal Investment Limited and MSC, with whom we have a longstanding and productive relationship, to make an offer for certain interests in ports owned and operated by Hutchison Ports Holdings. Given GIP's substantial expertise in owning and operating ports, together with our partners, we can focus on our joint ambition for these assets to continue to be world-class ports operators which are competitive, efficient, commercial and service-focused.'
While specific details about BlackRock's direct or indirect investments in Oman are not publicly disclosed, the American investment giant has been actively expanding its presence in the Gulf region. Last June, BlackRock appointed Mohammad al Fahim as Managing Director and Head of the UAE, Oman and Bahrain, aiming to strengthen client relationships and deliver diversified investment solutions across these countries.
Hutchison Ports Sohar is a joint venture between Hutchison Ports, Rakiza (Oman Infrastructure Investment Management — part of Oman Investment Authority) and other Omani investors.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
2 days ago
- Observer
The EU can play it cool with Trump's trade threats
Other governments have so far taken three main approaches to dealing with Donald Trump's trade threats. China hit back hard at the US president's tariffs and got him to back down partly. Canada also retaliated and avoided some of the pain Trump inflicted on other countries. Meanwhile, Britain cut a quick deal that favoured the United States. None of these is a model for the European Union. The 27-member group is not China. Though its bilateral goods trade with the United States last year was worth 70% more than between the US and the People's Republic, the EU is not an autocracy that can outpunch Trump. If it antagonises the US president, he might up the stakes by pulling the rug from under Ukraine and undermining the EU's defences. American hard power gives it what geopolitical strategists call 'escalation dominance'. The EU is not Canada either. Ottawa was able to hang tough because its people were infuriated that Trump was trying to blackmail Canada into becoming part of the United States. While anti-Trump sentiment is high in the EU, politicians who are sympathetic to him, such as Poland's new president, can still get elected. On the other hand, the EU is not the United Kingdom. Both are at risk from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the EU trades seven times more goods with the United States than Britain does - so Washington has more to lose if economic relations break down. There is another way for the EU to handle Trump's threats: play it cool. That is more or less what the bloc is doing. It involves neither escalating the conflict nor accepting a bad deal. It means being open to a good agreement if the US lowers its demands, but willing to play the long game if it does not. One reason to buy time is to help Kyiv. The longer the EU has to prepare its own support package for Ukraine, which should include getting it a lot of cash, the less the damage if Trump ultimately cuts off all US aid to the country. The president's own vulnerabilities may also increase over time. Just look at the spectacular end of his alliance with Tesla boss Elon Musk. The fragile US trade truce with China may break down causing more financial turmoil, making Trump less keen to pick a fight with the EU. If the Supreme Court stops him using emergency powers to impose tariffs, his negotiating position will be weaker. And tariffs could hurt the US more than its supposed victims, by pushing up inflation and crimping growth. A QUICK DEAL? Trump has zig-zagged in his trade threats and actions against the EU. The current state of play is that there are 50% tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminium from the bloc, a 25% tariff on cars and 10% so-called reciprocal tariffs on most other goods. And so they're trying to be the first and the best to get there, which is why everybody's throwing so much money at it without any clear sense of, you know, The US president has threatened to jack up these reciprocal tariffs to 50% if there is no deal by July 9. He is also looking at more 'sectoral tariffs', including on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. While the EU has complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO), it has delayed its own retaliation. Its negotiators accept that they are unlikely to overturn the reciprocal tariffs, the Financial Times has reported. The bloc still aims to avoid the sectoral ones. Those on cars and any on pharmaceuticals would hurt it the most. It has dangled the possibility of buying more US equipment and natural gas to get a deal. An agreement on those lines could be good for the EU. It needs to beef up its defences and eliminate its purchases of Russian gas. While it would be best to have its own arms and energy supplies, buying more from the US makes sense as an interim measure. An important nuance, though, is that the EU should reserve the right to take action against the reciprocal tariffs after the WTO issues its verdict, says Ignacio Garcia Bercero, a former senior EU trade official. Such a pact would involve quite a climbdown by Trump. True, arms and gas purchases would narrow the US goods deficit with the EU, which was $236 billion last year. But his administration has a host of other complaints including the bloc's value-added tax and food safety standards as well the digital taxes that some of its members impose on tech giants. It is hard to see the bloc agreeing anything in those areas, says Simon Evenett, professor of geopolitics and strategy at IMD. BACK TO WAR? Although the US side described last week's trade talks with the EU as 'very constructive', discussions could easily break down. The question then is how the bloc would react if Trump imposed higher reciprocal tariffs. The EU has so far imposed no countermeasures. Though it has agreed to tax 21 billion euros of US imports in response to the steel and aluminium tariffs, it has delayed these until July 14 to try to get a deal. The European Commission, its executive arm, is also consulting on taxing a further 95 billion euros of US imports in response to the car tariffs and the reciprocal ones. But added together, these tit-for-tat measures would be equivalent to only a third of the 379 billion euros of EU imports subject to Trump's tariffs. Some analysts think the bloc needs to be tougher. One idea is to crack down on American services, where the US had a 109 billion euro surplus with the EU in 2023. Another is to activate its 'anti-coercion instrument ', which would allow retaliation against US companies operating in the bloc. Yet another is to threaten to ban exports of critical goods, such as the lithographic equipment necessary to make semiconductors. Extreme events may require extreme responses. But for now, the EU should keep its cool. It should not kid itself that it is stronger or more united than it is. It should remember that Trump may get weaker with time. And it should never forget Ukraine. — Reuters Hugo Dixon The writer is Commentator-at-Large for Reuters. He was the founding chair and editor-in-chief of Breakingviews.
Observer
2 days ago
- Observer
Iran plans to submit own nuclear proposal to US soon
TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday it will soon present a counter-proposal on a nuclear deal with the United States, after it had described Washington's offer as containing "ambiguities". Tehran and Washington have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new nuclear accord to replace the deal with major powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. The longtime foes have been locked in a diplomatic standoff over Iran's uranium enrichment, with Tehran defending it as a "non-negotiable" right and Washington describing it as a "red line". On May 31, after the fifth round of talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later saying the text contained "ambiguities". Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei criticised the US proposal as "lacking elements" reflective of the previous rounds of negotiations, without providing further details. "We will soon submit our own proposed plan to the other side once it is finalised," Baqaei told a weekly press briefing. "It is a proposal that is reasonable, logical and balanced, and we strongly recommend that the American side value this opportunity." Also on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told state news agency IRNA that Iran's response "is a framework for agreement". "If we reach an understanding on this framework in principle, further extensive negotiations will begin on its details," he added. Iran's parliament speaker has said the US proposal failed to include the lifting of sanctions -- a key demand for Tehran, which has been reeling under their weight for years. Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said Tehran will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal. On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US offer was "100 per cent against" notions of independence and self-reliance. He insisted that uranium enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear programme and that the US "cannot have a say" on the issue. Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 per cent, far above the 3.67-per cent limit set in the 2015 deal and close though still short of the 90 per cent needed for a nuclear warhead. The United Nations nuclear watchdog on Monday began a Board of Governors meeting in Vienna that will last until Friday to discuss Iran's nuclear activities among other topics. "I call upon Iran urgently to cooperate fully and effectively with the International Atomic Energy Agency," said agency chief Rafael Grossi in his opening speech. "Unless and until Iran assists the agency in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful," he added. — AFP
Observer
5 days ago
- Observer
America's summer hot spots wonder: Will the vacationers still come?
Tim Cafferty, who owns a vacation rental business on North Carolina's Outer Banks, is upbeat about the summer season, but he is also doing anything he can to lure would-be vacationers. His company, Outer Banks Blue, ran a special promotion in March offering a 15 per cent discount on bookings. He is encouraging property owners to drop their prices. And for the first time, he is allowing visitors to reserve many of the 300 houses his company manages for just a few days instead of requiring them to stay a full week. All that has helped juice his sales, but there are still surprising vacancies. The week of the Fourth of July, a highly coveted rental period, is 'very soft for some reason,' Cafferty said. And more houses than usual are still available for late August, which could be because people are waiting until the last minute to book their getaways. In the end, Cafferty said, he would count himself lucky if Outer Banks Blue's occupancy levels this summer ended flat compared with last year, given the uncertain economic climate. Dishes are preapred at Lucky 12 Tavern in Nags Head, N C. — The New York Times 'People are ready to come,' he said. 'They are just looking for a good price.' Cafferty's cautious optimism in the face of those worrisome trends is indicative of how many business owners in popular vacation areas are approaching the crucial summer months. Although American consumers are showing some signs of strain amidst concerns about higher prices and the prospect of a recession, many businesses that cater to domestic tourists are preparing, somewhat guardedly, for what they expect to be a relatively normal summertime surge. Their bullishness is not unfounded. For all the concerns in recent years that consumer spending would buckle under soaring inflation and high borrowing costs, it has managed to remain solid, powering economic growth even when the economic outlook was hazy. The summer season will provide the latest stress test for that sunny spending pattern — and the lifeblood of many vacation towns is at stake. Seating at a restaurant at the Nags Head Fishing Pier in Nags Head, N C. — The New York Times 'Right now, it's all scary,' said Gary Jonas, who owns a bar and food truck lot, the Little Fleet, in Traverse City, Michigan, a summer destination in northern Michigan known for its cherries and vineyards. 'We're just crossing our fingers and hoping that it's similar to previous years.' Typically, American consumers put their money to work during the summer months on trips and leisure activities. Airlines, hotels and short-term rental companies count on bumps in bookings. Local economies in destination areas benefit from a swelling summertime population that buoys beachside cafes, souvenir shops, ice cream parlors and resorts. But consumers are bedeviled this year by a confluence of challenging circumstances that could curtail their summer spending. Their feelings about the economy have soured significantly since the beginning of the year amidst President Donald Trump's tariff rollout. Stock market volatility has made some consumers more apprehensive. So far, consumers are still spending. But for the most part, they no longer have the savings they had amassed during the pandemic that allowed them to spend more freely. Credit card debt that is 90 days or more past due has been rising across income levels and household debt has piled up. On calls with investors, consumer-facing companies are reporting that customers are trimming spending on discretionary items like meals out and snack foods; and warning that tariffs will force them to raise prices. Anglers at the fishing pier in Nags Head, N C. — The New York Times And if tariffs rise at the end of Trump's 90-day pause, that will put additional pressure on consumers who may suddenly find themselves facing higher costs for goods and services — just as the summer season is revving into high gear. 'There's a pullback in travel demand,' said Laura Rosner-Warburton, senior economist at MacroPolicy Perspectives, a forecasting firm. Prices for hotels and airfares have fallen, she noted, which suggests consumers are pulling back their spending on leisure. 'That's a sign of some weakening,' she said. There are some bright spots for summer businesses. Travel often holds up reasonably well when the economy softens, though it takes a hit if the circumstances become dire enough. Spending on travel dipped during and after the Great Recession in 2007-09, for instance. And for now, the labour market remains strong, without the kind of steep job losses that typically translate into less spending. Domestic destinations could also see a boost from American travellers, especially those with lower incomes, who may choose to vacation in the United States rather than go abroad. The share of consumers planning to go on a domestic vacation in the next six months bounced back in May, to about 42 per cent, according to The Conference Board. 'I would expect there to be more domestic travel this year than the previous few,' said David Tinsley, an economist at the Bank of America Institute, which found that lower- and middle-income households were more likely to drive to their destinations than fly. 'It's consistent with an idea of people being a little bit more prudent,' he said. It is that consumer frugality that has made Brian Gagnon, president of the Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, confident about the upcoming months. The Lake of the Ozarks, a human-made body of water in central Missouri, is a favoured driving destination for people in the Midwest, which he hopes will make it more attractive for travellers looking to save on airfare this summer. Gagnon, who also owns a swimwear shop in the area called Summer USA, says foot traffic on Bagnell Dam Strip, the main shopping and dining street, has been high. Tickets for an annual car show in May sold out within days. Sales at his store are slightly up at this point compared with last year. Racers at LeMans Go-Karts in Lake Ozark, Mo. — The New York Times 'We'll keep an eye on things and just keep our finger on the pulse with everything,' he said. 'But I think going into it, it looks pretty positive from everything we've seen so far.' The picture could be very different for places that depend heavily on overseas visitors, such as New York. Research firm Tourism Economics expects that international travel to the United States will be down 9.4 per cent in 2025 as foreign travellers stay away for reasons including economic and political uncertainty. Some business owners are also preparing for the possibility that visitors might be less inclined to open their wallets this year. Nick Sharp, director of a restaurant company in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, known as Rex's Family of Restaurants, said he was planning to more aggressively market discounts at happy hours, for example, as well as hire fewer employees across his six restaurants. One of the establishments, a Mexican restaurant called Salt & Lime, is introducing a less expensive lunch menu instead of charging the same prices for lunch and dinner. 'Our thought pattern is revolving around this consumer sentiment situation where people are not yet without money but just not yet sure that they are going to have the money that they would normally spend,' he said. On the Outer Banks, a chain of barrier islands off North Carolina, businesses are likewise adapting to the current economy — and holding their breath. Mark Ballog, who owns Lucky 12 Tavern in Nags Head, North Carolina, said he did not plan to raise menu prices this summer despite the hefty cost of fish and meat because he worried about 'scaring people away.' He is anticipating selling a lot of his signature 16-inch New York-style pizzas this year to families who want cheaper meals. But his outlook is hardly gloomy. 'I'm pretty hopeful,' he said. 'This area here — we attract a lot of people that don't have a money problem in the world.' — The New York Times BLURB Consumers are bedeviled this year by a confluence of challenging circumstances that could curtail their summer spending. Their feelings about the economy have soured significantly since the beginning of the year amidst President Donald Trump's tariff rollout
