From the South China Morning Post, March 28:
Hong Kong’s Hutchison ‘will not sign Panama deal next week’, Beijing to launch probe
Beijing to launch antitrust probe into deal by Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings
Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings will not go ahead with the expected signing of a deal next week to sell its two strategic ports at the Panama Canal, the Post has learned, as Beijing revealed it will launch an antitrust probe into the sale.
The State Administration for Market Regulation said on Friday it was looking into the deal.
The sale of CK Hutchison’s two ports at each end of the Panama Canal was part of a US$23 billion deal to sell 43 ports spread over 23 countries to a consortium led by United States investment firm BlackRock. CK Hutchison will pocket US$19 billion.
The investigation was announced after Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing media Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao asked whether the deal required approval through an antitrust review.
“We have noticed this transaction, and will review it in accordance with the law to ensure fair competition in the market and safeguard the public interest,” a spokesman from the anti-monopoly department under the market regulator said in a written reply.
The watchdog did not reveal when the investigation would be launched but its response was later reposted on the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office website.
The anti-monopoly department is responsible for conducting antitrust reviews and providing guidance to companies over their response to mitigate risk and ensure compliance overseas.
Earlier on Friday, a source close to CK Hutchison said the conglomerate would not go ahead with the expected signing of the deal next Wednesday.
“There will not be an official signing of the two Panama ports deal next week,” a source close to CK Hutchison told the Post.
April 2 was a deadline set for CK Hutchison and the BlackRock consortium to sign a definitive agreement over the deal for the two ports, according to an announcement of the sale on March 4.
But it was understood that the April 2 date was not a “real deadline”.
The parties have 145 days to exclusively and confidentially negotiate the final terms. Neither party has revealed the start or end of this period. But the exclusivity period means that beyond the 145 days, CK Hutchison can sell the assets to other parties....
....MUCH MORE
The outro from March 23's Panama Canal—"Pro-Beijing paper: Anti-sanctions law can block Li’s ports deal" (highlighting in original):
The Chinese are going bust-up the Panama ports deal. It is one of their all-star choke point positioning plays.
If interested see: "Chinese EV battery makers are building huge factories in Morocco to cash in on U.S. electric vehicle subsidies" (and China is now camped at most of the world's chokepoints)"
Here are a collection of previous post snippets addressing exactly these laws as they are playing out between Beijing, Hong Kong, and Panama under the January 2025 headline "DeepSeek and Chinese Security Laws: There Are No Secrets":
....Some years ago China implemented a series of laws that require Chinese companies to work with the state security organs and not just in China but around the world - universal jurisdiction....
