The alliance between US fund BlackRock and Swiss shipping giant Msc to acquire the container terminals of Hutchison Ports, excluding those in China, may already be over—or at least significantly altered—Bloomberg reported on 14 April 2025. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the agency revealed that not all of Hutchison Holdings’ terminals would be jointly acquired by BlackRock and Terminal Investment. Instead, the assets appear to be divided: the two Panamanian terminals would be controlled by the US fund, while the remaining 41 would go to the Aponte family’s shipping group.
More specifically, according to Bloomberg’s sources, the two terminals in Panama would be acquired by a company in which BlackRock would hold a 51 per cent stake, through its Global Investment Partners arm, with Terminal Investment holding the remaining 49 per cent. Terminal Investment would become the sole owner of the other 41 terminals worldwide, excluding the Chinese ones. The sources added that the structure of the deal could still change, as it remains subject to due diligence and approval from the relevant antitrust authorities.
As part of the agreement, the buyers have pledged to maintain current port management practices and operational rules, under which most terminals are open to all shipping lines on a non-discriminatory basis. Compared to an earlier version of the deal, which envisaged all 43 container terminals being transferred to a consortium formed by BlackRock, Global Investment Partners and Terminal Investment, the current arrangement reflects a sort of division of assets. It is worth noting that Terminal Investment itself is the result of a partnership, with Global Investment Partners holding a minority stake.
The most likely reason behind this shift is the Chinese government’s opposition—initially discreet and later more overt—to the transfer of these assets from a Chinese firm, albeit based in Hong Kong, to a foreign entity. It is possible that Beijing may be more inclined to approve a deal involving a European rather than a US-controlled company. Nevertheless, the situation in Panama remains uncertain, as the country’s auditor general is investigating the legitimacy of the terminal concessions granted to Hutchison Ports. The companies involved have not commented on Bloomberg’s report.
