BlackRock and Goldman Sachs edged higher Wednesday following news that a group led by BlackRock would buy two Panama Canal ports divested by Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchinson Holdings.
Shares of CK Hutchinson led a rally on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Wednesday. CK Hutchinson's Hong Kong shares soared 22%.
The BlackRock group agreed to buy the Balboa and Cristobal ports, located at either end of the Panama Canal, as well as 40 other port facilities in a $19 billion deal. The family the owns CK felt under pressure to sell due to increasing tension regarding the canal, the New York Times reported, after President Donald Trump made the venue a target of criticism, as well as possible acquisition by the U.S.
Goldman Sachs brokered the deal, according to Bloomberg. Once the BlackRock consortium showed interest in the port assets, "there was a rush to sign a memorandum of understanding and file it to the Hong Kong stock exchange ahead of Trump's address to Congress in Washington, D.C.," Bloomberg said.
During his address to Congress on Tuesday night, President Trump said, "My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we've already started doing it." He added, "just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal."
The deal provides an "off-ramp" for tensions between the U.S. and Panama, a Times source said, after Trump alleged disparities in how the ports charged U.S. ships for canal access.
Panamanian authorities were not involved in the deal, according to the Times reporting. But BlackRock executives including Chief Executive Laurence Fink reportedly briefed Trump, Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials to earn support for the deal.
Shares of BlackRock gained on Wednesday, then gave up most of those gains and moved lower for the week on Thursday. Goldman rose 2% Wednesday, then slipped back into losses that showed it down 8% for the week on Thursday.
In Hong Kong, shares of CK Hutchinson spring 22% higher, leading Wednesday's rally that left the Hang Seng Index up 2.8%. It gained another 9.5% on Thursday.
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