State Administration for Market Regulation:Review of port transactions in accordance with the law
On March 4th, Li Ka-shing announced a partnership with BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) (collectively, the "BlackRock-TiL Consortium") has reached an agreement in principle on the preliminary terms of the transaction, which will involve an 80% interest in Hutchison Ports Group, including Hutchison Ports' 43 ports, 199 berths and other related assets in 23 countries. Through the deal, Changhe expects to eventually bring back more than US $19 billion in cash, or about HK $148 billion, close to Changhe's total market value of about HK $180 billion.
US President Donald Trump claimed in his inaugural address to take back the Panama Canal from China, but the Panamanian government at first firmly denied that the canal was being manipulated by Chinese investors. But then, under pressure, Panama's audit Commission announced a review of Hutchison's accounts to ensure the efficient and transparent use of public resources.
To this end, Li Ka-shing sold the topic of Panama port frequently hot search, because the sale of the port incident led to the evaporation of the market value of four companies more than 78.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and now less than a week from April 2 to finally sign the agreement, not only facing public criticism, the attention of the State Administration for Market Supervision and Administration, but also may face paying BlackRock a huge amount of liquidated damages.
Here is a full Q&A.
Q: It is learnt that on April 2, Changhe and BlackRock will sign a deal on the Panama port deal. Will the deal go through China's anti-monopoly review and approval?
Head of the second anti-monopoly Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation: We have noted this transaction and will review it in accordance with the law to protect fair competition in the market and safeguard the public interest.
According to the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, the second Division of anti-monopoly law enforcement is responsible for the anti-monopoly review of the concentration of business operators in accordance with the law. Responsible for investigating and dealing with illegal business concentration cases, investigating and dealing with business concentration cases that do not meet the declaration standards but may exclude or restrict competition. We will conduct anti-monopoly review on the concentration of business operators in the digital economy. To supervise the enforcement of additional restrictive conditions for the concentration of business operators. To guide enterprises in foreign anti-monopoly litigation response and compliance work.
US President Donald Trump claimed in his inaugural address to take back the Panama Canal from China, but the Panamanian government at first firmly denied that the canal was being manipulated by Chinese investors. But then, under pressure, Panama's audit Commission announced a review of Hutchison's accounts to ensure the efficient and transparent use of public resources.
To this end, Li Ka-shing sold the topic of Panama port frequently hot search, because the sale of the port incident led to the evaporation of the market value of four companies more than 78.1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and now less than a week from April 2 to finally sign the agreement, not only facing public criticism, the attention of the State Administration for Market Supervision and Administration, but also may face paying BlackRock a huge amount of liquidated damages.
Here is a full Q&A.
Q: It is learnt that on April 2, Changhe and BlackRock will sign a deal on the Panama port deal. Will the deal go through China's anti-monopoly review and approval?
Head of the second anti-monopoly Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation: We have noted this transaction and will review it in accordance with the law to protect fair competition in the market and safeguard the public interest.
According to the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, the second Division of anti-monopoly law enforcement is responsible for the anti-monopoly review of the concentration of business operators in accordance with the law. Responsible for investigating and dealing with illegal business concentration cases, investigating and dealing with business concentration cases that do not meet the declaration standards but may exclude or restrict competition. We will conduct anti-monopoly review on the concentration of business operators in the digital economy. To supervise the enforcement of additional restrictive conditions for the concentration of business operators. To guide enterprises in foreign anti-monopoly litigation response and compliance work.
