Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison seeks $1.5bn from Panama in canal ports dispute

{"text":[[{"start":10.777,"text":"CK Hutchison is seeking more than $1.5bn of damages from Panama over what it called the “destruction of the company’s investments” after the government kicked it out of two canal ports."}],[{"start":22.6,"text":"The Hong Kong-based conglomerate said on Thursday it had taken the Central American country to arbitration over a Supreme Court decision in January to annul its contract to operate a pair of terminals on the Panama Canal."}],[{"start":34.78,"text":"It accused Panama of “breaches of an investment protection treaty” that led to “destruction of the company’s investments” in the country."}],[{"start":42.78,"text":"The treaty is understood to be the 1983 British-Panamanian bilateral investment treaty, according to legal intelligence platform Jus Mundi, as CK is incorporated in the Cayman Islands."}],[{"start":54.56,"text":"The latest case marks an escalation of the legal battle between CK and Panama over control of operations on the crucial trade corridor."}],[{"start":62.88,"text":"The company’s local subsidiary, the Panama Ports Company, is already engaged in arbitration proceedings against the government, claiming $2bn in damages."}],[{"start":72.4,"text":"It has also taken Maersk to arbitration. The Danish shipping group was handed operations of the Balboa port on the canal’s Pacific side after CK was ejected, while the port wing of Mediterranean Shipping Company is running Cristóbal on the Atlantic side."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":87.2,"text":"The conglomerate run by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, had been trying to sell its operations on the Panama Canal."}],[{"start":93.98,"text":"It had negotiated a $23bn deal with a BlackRock-led consortium in March last year to sell its non-Chinese port subsidiaries, which operate in strategic locations including Panama, Rotterdam and the UK’s Felixstowe."}],[{"start":107.78,"text":"The initial deal terms would have given BlackRock a controlling stake in the Panama Ports Company, while the Aponte family-controlled MSC would become the majority owner of CK’s 41 other non-Chinese ports, including in south-east Asia, Europe and the Middle East."}],[{"start":123.3,"text":"But the proposal alarmed Beijing, where officials have worked to reshape the deal, including demanding it undergo China’s merger review process even though no mainland assets are involved."}],[{"start":134.06,"text":"The FT reported in March that the parties were still working to close the deal without the two ports in Panama."}],[{"start":147.9,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1787212636_2452.mp3"}