Will CK Hutchison’s plan to tap mainland Chinese firm for Panama ports deal pay off?

Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings may win Beijing’s support through its plan to bring in a mainland Chinese company as a strategic investor in the controversial sale of its global port stakes, but the change in tack has also fuelled uncertainty, experts have said.

Analysts said that the planned US$23 billion deal to sell CK Hutchison’s 43 overseas ports, including two at the Panama Canal, could become a bargaining chip between the US and China as they began their third round of trade talks in Sweden.

Experts weighed in after the Hong Kong conglomerate, controlled by tycoon Li Ka-shing, revealed on Monday that it planned to invite a mainland firm to join a consortium behind the deal as a “significant member”.

A deadline for exclusive talks between CK Hutchison and the consortium, led by American asset manager BlackRock and the prominent Italian Aponte shipping family’s Terminal Investment Limited, expired at the weekend.

The conglomerate said that changes would need to be made to the membership and the structure of the transaction for the deal “to be capable of being approved by all relevant authorities”.

Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, said he believed CK Hutchison’s latest move was an attempt to gain the approval of Beijing, which has signalled its anger over the deal.

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