The city’s chief executive said a deal between the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison and BlackRock, a major American investment firm, requires “serious attention.”
Political pressure is mounting over a plan by a Hong Kong conglomerate to sell its Panama ports to BlackRock, the American investor, raising questions about the future of the $19 billion deal.
John Lee, the leader of Hong Kong, added his voice on Tuesday to escalating warnings from China, saying the transaction deserved “serious attention.”
The deal between CK Hutchison, one of Hong Kong’s most successful conglomerates, and BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, was seen by investors as a solution to a geopolitical hot potato that began with a claim by President Trump that CK Hutchison’s ownership of two major ports on either end of the Panama Canal was an issue of national security because it was “operated by China.” Mr. Trump praised the BlackRock deal after it was announced.
Now, that solution is starting to look more like a problem. Shares in CK Hutchison, which is controlled by one of Hong Kong’s richest people, Li Ka-shing, fell by more than 4 percent after Mr. Lee’s comments. The company has canceled press and investor briefings that were scheduled for this week when it releases its latest financial report. Hutchison did not respond to requests for comment.
China has criticized the planned port deal, which would result in CK Hutchison selling most of its Hutchison Port Holdings, including its Panama ports and over 40 other global ports. A series of commentaries published in Ta Kung Bao, a Hong Kong newspaper owned by the Hong Kong government and Communist Party, argued that the Hutchison-BlackRock arrangement would allow the United States to “use it for political purposes and promote its own political agenda,” in turn making Chinese shipping and trade “subject to the United States.”
On Tuesday, Hong Kong’s Mr. Lee said that “any transaction must comply with the legal and regulatory requirements.” Speaking at a weekly press briefing, he said that the government would “handle it in accordance with the law and regulations.”