The two main ports of Panama, Balboa and Cristobal, located at the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal, are changing ownership. On 4 March 2025, the consortium formed by the American investment funds BlackRock and Global Infrastructure Partners, along with the Swiss shipping company MSC (through Terminal Investment), announced the signing of an agreement to acquire from Hong Kong's CK Hutchison Holdings a 90% stake in Panama Ports Company—which manages the two Panamanian ports—and an 80% stake in Hutchison Ports, which operates 43 terminals in 23 countries, for a sum of €17.5 billion.
This transaction relieves CK Hutchison Holdings of the burden of defending the two Panamanian concessions, which in recent days have been challenged by a legal appeal seeking their annulment. This action evidently stems from President Trump's declarations of wanting to reclaim the Panama Canal, specifically targeting the port concessions to the Chinese company. The agreement is also expected to ease U.S. pressure on Panama's president, José Raúl Mulino.
