MSC, BlackRock bid for Hutchison’s Barcelona terminal faces EU probe

BRUSSELS: BlackRock and MSC’s bid for most of CK Hutchison’s global port operations faces a hurdle in Europe with EU antitrust regulators set to investigate the Spanish portion of the deal, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison wants to sell its 80 percent holding in the USD22.8 billion ports business, which encompasses 43 ports in 23 countries, a politically sensitive deal that has been caught up in China-US tensions.

The likely full-scale investigation by the European Commission, previously unreported, could see regulators demand concessions from BlackRock and MSC in return for clearing the Spanish deal.

The Commission declined to comment. BlackRock, MSC and Hutchison did not immediately respond to several emailed requests for comment.

CK Hutchison has interests in ports across Europe, including in Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands. It was not immediately clear if those other European parts of the global acquisition could also eventually come under scrutiny. The non-EU portions of the deal fall outside the EU’s review jurisdiction.

The overall package, which includes two ports along the strategically important Panama Canal, has become highly politicised between Washington and Beijing.