HONG KONG — CK Hutchison’s plan to sell most of its $22.8 billion ports business is unlikely to be finalised anytime soon, with political brinkmanship set to continue, and sources saying that a Sunday deadline for exclusive talks was likely to be extended.
The Hong Kong conglomerate’s plan to sell the business, which would include two ports along the strategically important Panama Canal, to a consortium led by BlackRock and Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s family-run shipping company MSC, has become politicised amid an escalating China-U.S. trade war.
Negotiations for the deal, which covers 43 ports in 23 countries, are on an exclusive basis between CK Hutchison, controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, and the consortium for 145 days until Sunday, according to the terms announced in March.
The deal talks, however, are unlikely to collapse if the two parties do not ink a pact by Sunday, with three people close to the ports-to-telecoms conglomerate saying the parties could extend the deadline to continue exclusive negotiations.
The first part of the deal – definitive documentation to sell two port operations near the Panama Canal – was also not signed by an April 2 deadline set in the sales announcement.
The people declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
BlackRock declined to comment. CK Hutchison and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, which CK Hutchison said in May was the main investor in the consortium, did not respond to requests for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the deal as “reclaiming” the Panama Canal, after his administration previously called for the removal of what it said was Chinese ownership of the ports near the canal.
But in April, China’s top market regulator said that it was paying close attention to CK Hutchison’s planned sale and that parties to the deal should not try to avoid an antitrust review.
Beijing’s stance on the planned deal was made public after pro-China media launched a stinging criticism, saying China had significant national interests in the transaction and it would be a betrayal of the country.
“I think at this moment it’s not very optimistic that they can directly sell the ports to the consortium,” said Jackson Chan, global fixed income senior manager at FSMOne Hong Kong, which has clients holding CK Hutchison bonds.
