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An agreement for Hong Kong-listed CK Hutchison Holdings ( CKHH ) to sell the bulk of its port interests outside of China represents a significant deal for the parties involved, with a BlackRock-led consortium emerging as a powerful player in the global port business, a new report says.
On March 4, CKHH announced that in-principle agreements had been reached for the sale of select port infrastructure assets owned by Hutchison Port Holdings ( HPH ) to a consortium made up of BlackRock, BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners ( GIP ) and Terminal Investment Limited ( TiL ), part of MSC Group.
The deal underscores BlackRock’s growing involvement in infrastructure ownership, BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, says in a commentary. ( The commentary does not involve Fitch Ratings’ credit ratings. Fitch Ratings analysts do not share data or information with BMI. )
Infrastructure, within the broader alternatives asset class, is a core component of the New York-based investment manager’s strategy to broaden its fee-generating activities further into private markets. This agreement is the company’s largest infrastructure deal to date and comes after its acquisition of GIP, completed in October 2024. It demonstrates BlackRock’s willingness and financial capacity to position itself as a long-term asset owner within the asset class, BMI says.
Huge portfolio
In particular, the BlackRock-led consortium will acquire:
The aggregate enterprise value for the deal is set at US$22.8 billion, with the PPC deal pending government approval in Panama, while the HPH transaction awaits confirmatory due diligence and regulatory approvals. A definitive documentation for the Panama deal is expected to be signed by April 2.
The agreement will see the new consortium take on a considerable portfolio of port assets spread across all key regions, immediately making it one of the largest container port investors globally, the commentary says.
Prior to the deal, CKHH stood as one of the largest container terminal groups globally, with 53 ports across 24 countries, a total revenue from its ports division of HK$37.2 billion ( US$4.8 billion ), excluding HK$3.6 billion from other port-related services, and combined annual throughput of 82.1 million TEUs ( 20-foot equivalent units ) in 2023 from ports in which it held interests.
Reduction of tensions
CK Hutchison's port holdings outside of mainland China and Hong Kong account for a large portion of the company's port portfolio, including 89% of revenue and 58% of throughput as of 2023. Of this total, the company's port assets in Europe generated revenue of HK$13.3 billion and throughput of 15.6 million TEUs, while assets in Asia, Australia and others, excluding China, saw revenue of HK$19.8 billion and throughput of 32 million TEUs.
As such, the acquisition will boost the position of TiL and MSC Group more broadly in the global port sector, BMI says. Prior to the deal, TiL was already among the world’s largest container terminal operators, with presence in over 70 container terminals in 31 countries. In 2023, ports where TiL was involved saw a combined annual container throughput volume of 65 million TEUs.
In Panama, the agreement will see the BlackRock-TiL consortium control the Balboa and Cristóbal terminals, which accounted for a combined 3.7 million TEUs of total container throughput in 2024, as well as 39.7% of the combined container throughput for the five main container ports adjacent to the canal.
“We suspect that the shift of control of the two ports away from CK Hutchison will lead to an easing of tensions between the US and Panama which have emerged around control of the Panama Canal and its adjacent port facilities since the return to office of President Donald Trump in January 2025,” the BMI commentary says.
“A reduction in tensions between both markets would bode well for economic stability in Panama, given the vulnerability of the country to US economic pressure. This in turn should be supportive of private infrastructure investment in the market.”
