The $19 billion sale of CK Hutchison’s 43 global ports, including two strategically vital ports on the Panama Canal (Balboa and Cristóbal terminals), to a BlackRock-led consortium is far from completion, mired in the crossfire of US-China trade and geopolitical tensions.
CK Hutchison co-managing director Frank Sixt told Wall Street analysts during its interim earnings results earlier today that the deal’s complexity means it likely won’t be completed this year, especially after China demanded earlier this summer that its largest shipping company, Cosco, be included in the Western-investor deal.
“We are in a new stage of our deal and that includes, as we have said, discussions with a major strategic Chinese investor,” Sixt said.
He continued, “I believe that there is a reasonable chance that those discussions will lead to a deal that is good for all of the parties, ourselves included, and most importantly, that will be capable of being approved by all of the relevant authorities.”
Wall Street analysts paid close attention to comments from CK Hutchison’s exeutives about deal progress that has been pushed to next year.
While analysts’ 12-month forward EPS forecasts for CK Hutchison have sunk to their lowest level since 2009, the stock in Hong Kong has rebounded since an April bottom on the prospects of a deal. This means the stock is 9 times forward earnings; in other words, no longer a bargain.
“So much hinges off this port sale,” said David Blennerhassett, an analyst at Quiddity Advisors.
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