Latest news with #DominicLai
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
CK Hutchison confirms Italian tycoon's lead role in ports deal
[HONG KONG] CK Hutchison Holdings has told investors that Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte's family-run business is the 'main investor' of a group seeking to buy its global ports and that the sale will not proceed until after various authorities vet the deal. The comments from co-managing director Dominic Lai came in response to questions from investors during the Hong Kong-based conglomerate's annual general meeting, an official transcript of the gathering on Thursday (May 22) showed. Lai also noted that the deal is subject to multiple reviews by different authorities, and reiterated the company's position that the group will not proceed with the sale until it obtains all necessary approvals. Should the deal go through, CK Hutchison, founded by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing, will sell 43 ports – including two in Panama – to the group that involves US investment firm BlackRock for a sum encompassing more than US$19 billion in cash. Since being announced in March, the proposed sale has met with opposition from China, whose market watchdog has said it will review the transaction. US President Donald Trump touted the deal as a win for the US because it had return the Panama Canal to American influence. Bloomberg reported last month that the sale is structured to give the Aponte family's Geneva-based Terminal Investment ownership of all but the two Panama ports, whose control would go to BlackRock. CK Hutchsion has also had to contend with a series of attacks from pro-Beijing newspapers over what they've described as kowtowing to US pressure. Authorities in Beijing have also told state-owned firms to hold off on any new collaboration with businesses linked to Li and his family, Bloomberg reported in March. CK Hutchison has already missed a target to sign a definitive agreement on the Panama part of the deal by Apr 2. BLOOMBERG
Bloomberg
22-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
CK Hutchison Confirms Italian Tycoon's Lead Role in Ports Deal
CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. has told investors that Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte's family-run business is the 'main investor' of a group seeking to buy its global ports and that the sale won't proceed until after various authorities vet the deal. The comments from co-managing director Dominic Lai came in response to questions from investors during the Hong Kong-based conglomerate's annual general meeting, an official transcript of the gathering on Thursday showed.
