From Bloomberg, April 14:
Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s family-run business is emerging as the lead investor of a group seeking to buy 43 ports from Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, people familiar with the matter said, a deal that’s been fiercely opposed by China over US involvement.
The Aponte family’s Geneva-based Terminal Investment Ltd., known as TiL, will be the sole owner of all the ports after the deal is completed except for two in Panama that would be controlled by BlackRock Inc., the people said, asking not to be identified discussing previously unreported details of the deal’s structure.
The US investment firm’s unit Global Infrastructure Partners will own 51% of the two ports along the Panama Canal while TiL will hold the remaining 49%, the people said. The facilities at the strategic waterway account for about 4% of the total value of the deal, which will net Li’s CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd. more than $19 billion in cash once sealed, one of the people said.
The deal is still pending due diligence, tax and accounting checks, as well as approval from regulators where the ports are located, the people said. The buyers have committed to keeping the ports’ management and current operating rules unchanged, where the majority of the terminals are for common users and are open for all shipping lines without discrimination, one of the people said....
....MUCH MORE
