Li Ka-shing ports sale draws interest from CMA CGM owner Saade family
[PARIS] Shipping giant CMA CGM is angling to be part of a mega-deal that would see the sale of dozens of ports owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings.
“We’re watching this very closely,” chief financial officer Ramon Fernandez said on Tuesday (Jul 29). “We’re naturally very interested in participating in the solution that hasn’t been found.”
Speaking during a presentation of second-quarter results, Fernandez said he was referring to a potential direct involvement by CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container line controlled by chief executive officer Rodolphe Saade and his family.
The comments indicate talks are still ongoing for the sale of CK Hutchison’s 43 ports, which would represent the deal of the lifetime for Li, its 97-year-old founder. Should Saade enter the arena, he would join another European shipping tycoon, Gianluigi Aponte, whose Terminal Investment was part of the original buying consortium with US investment firm BlackRock Their period for exclusive talks with CK Hutchison has now expired.
Since being announced in March, the proposed sale has been met with opposition from China, whose market watchdog has said it will review the transaction. President Donald Trump touted the deal as a win for the US because it would return the Panama Canal to American influence due to the inclusion of two ports along the strategically important waterway.
CK Hutchison said earlier this week that it may invite a “major strategic investor” from China to join the buying consortium. Bloomberg News had reported state-owned China Cosco Shipping Corp was negotiating a role for itself. Cosco is among the partners in a capacity-sharing agreement with CMA CGM called Ocean Alliance.
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Any move by CMA CGM would be in keeping with Saade’s fast-paced acquisitions spree in recent years that has included expansion in shipping operations, ports, logistics and media. He has acquired two major shipping terminals in the US, control of a Brazilian ports operator and reached an agreement with a partner to develop a deep-water terminal in northern Vietnam.
The CK Hutchison deal is “very important for the industry and for us as a major actor in the sector,” Fernandez said.
After unprecedented growth during the pandemic era, the closely held Marseille-based carrier reported second-quarter profit of US$521 million compared with US$661 million a year earlier, citing geopolitical conflicts and trade tensions. Shipping volumes were nearly flat.
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The effects of Trump’s tariffs on the US economy remain to be seen, although any changes to its longstanding reliance on imports and domestic consumption “will evolve only very gradually,” the CFO said.
Tariffs will continue a process that began during the first Trump administration that saw the development of production sites outside China in places like southeast Asia, he said.
The Saade family is worth about US$36 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, just ahead of Li Ka-shing’s US$35 billion. BLOOMBERG
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