Italian shipping tycoon Aponte defeats BlackRock to seize control of the Li Ka-shing port deal.

Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing's CK Hutchison announced on March 4th that it is preparing to sell its 43 global port facilities, including the sale of its stake in the Panama port, with expected cash proceeds of over $19 billion. However, this deal quickly became embroiled in political and geopolitical controversies, as it involves the participation of U.S. funds, and the two ports near the Panama Canal have strategic value, which has led to strong opposition from the Chinese government.

Later, it was revealed that the Aponte family, one of the major shipping families globally, was also preparing to get involved in this transaction. The trading partners include American investment giant BlackRock and the Singapore sovereign wealth fund, ultimately successfully taking the lead in the transaction.

The trading power is held by Italy's Aponte, making it the overall biggest winner.

According to Bloomberg, the trading dominance has now shifted to the Italian shipping giant Gianluigi Aponte's family business, and its subsidiary Terminal Investment Ltd. (TiL) will acquire 100% ownership of all ports except for Panama.

The two ports in Panama will be jointly held by the American investment firm BlackRock ( and its subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners ), among which:

GIP owns 51% of the shares.

TiL holds the remaining 49%

These two ports account for about 4% of the total trading value, but due to the strategic location of the Panama Canal, they still receive high attention from all parties.

China exerts pressure, Panama reviews, fierce competition between China and the U.S.

Due to the transaction involving U.S. capital and the fact that port assets are spread across the globe, the Chinese government pressured Li Ka-shing to cancel the sale, but Li Ka-shing did not relent.

On the other hand, the Comptroller General of Panama also accused Chang and others of misconduct, but Chang has denied all allegations.

It seems that BlackRock is in control, but in reality, the Aponte family holds the power behind the scenes.

Although when the trading was announced in early March, the outside world believed it was a joint effort by BlackRock and Aponte, it now appears that the actual control is in the hands of the Aponte family. The main reasons include:

Aponte is an old friend of Li Ka-shing.

CK Hutchison believes that it is more reassuring to hand over the ports to them.

Currently, the shareholder structure of TiL also includes Singapore's GIC and BlackRock, which together hold 30% of the shares, but do not have dominant power over overall transaction decisions.

Commit to maintaining existing operations without discriminating against shipping companies.

According to reports, the acquirer has pledged:

Will not change the existing operational management team at the port.

Maintain the current rules of the port "open to all shipping companies, non-discriminatory".

The Panama section was originally scheduled to be completed before April 2nd, but it has now been postponed.

Although the transaction is in progress, the original deadline of April 2 for completing the Panama port section has been missed. It still needs to go through:

Review by governments and regulatory bodies in various regions

Tax, accounting, and other due diligence

A person with knowledge added that the overall transaction structure and equity arrangements may still undergo changes.

Retain the ports of Hong Kong and mainland China, accounting for approximately 12% of total revenue.

It is worth noting that Li Ka-shing has not sold all of his ports, and he still retains port assets in Hong Kong and mainland China, which account for about 12% of CK Hutchison's overall revenue and are considered one of the important assets.

It's not just business; it's also a game of geopolitical strategy.

This transaction has gone beyond the scope of a simple business acquisition, involving the following aspects:

The competition for strategic ports between the US and China

Panama's sensitive diplomatic stance with China

The network of connections between Asian tycoons and European family businesses

( Did Trump's pressure work? BlackRock leads the acquisition of control over Panama Port )

This article discusses how Italian shipping tycoon Aponte defeated BlackRock to seize control of the Li Ka Shing port deal, first appearing in Chain News ABMedia.