Panama City, Mar 4 (EFE) – The Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison, the parent company of the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in the Panama Canal area, announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement in principle with the US fund manager BlackRock.
“CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd reported that the BlackRock-TiL consortium will acquire: HPH’s 90% stake in Panama Ports Company (PPC), which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama (the Panama Terminals),” the Hong Kong conglomerate said in a statement.
The agreement followed months of threats by US President Donald Trump to take back the interoceanic waterway over alleged Chinese influence.
However, CK Hutchison co-chief executive Frank Sixt distanced the sale from US pressure.
“I would like to stress that the Transaction is purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports,” Sixt said.
The agreement also includes acquiring “CK Hutchison’s 80% effective and controlling interest in its subsidiaries and associated companies (HPH), which own, operate and develop a total of 43 ports with 199 berths in 23 countries.”
According to the Hong Kong company, the total deal, which includes other assets, amounts to 22.8 billion dollars.
Panama’s five main ports are adjacent to the interoceanic canal, including the Port of Balboa, which has been operated since 1997 by Panama Ports Company, owned by CK Hutchison Holdings since 2015.
The Balboa port is the second port with the highest container throughput in Panama, with more than 2.3 million TEUs (standard 20-foot containers) in 2024.
With five container ship piers, Balboa operates 25 gantry cranes (10 Post Panamax, 8 Panamax, and 7 Super Post Panamax). It has an annual capacity of 5 million TEUs.
Hutchison operates ports in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia. Cristobal was the company’s fifth largest. EFE
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