Goldman to advise Hutchison Ports on $19 billion sale to BlackRock-led investor group

Goldman will advise the sale of a controlling stake in 43 shipping ports.
A group led by BlackRock will purchase 80% of the equity in Hutchison Ports.
Two of the parts sit on either side of the Panama Canal.
Trump said in a speech on Tuesday that the US would seek to take back the canal from Panama.

Clay Webster FXStreet

Goldman Sachs (GS) has inked a $19 billion deal to become the sole advisor to CK Hutchison Holdings on its sale of control over 43 global shipping ports.

Shares of Goldman rose close to 1% in Wednesday’s premarket after sinking about 4% on Tuesday in light of the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico going into effect.

The broader market gained on Wednesday as Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, told reporters that Tuesday’s onset of tariffs might be short-lived. Lutnick said the administration would probably work out a deal to announce on Wednesday.

Goldman Sachs stock news

The deal calls for Hutchison to sell 80% of the equity in the 43 ports to an investor consortium managed by Larry Fink’s US asset manager BlackRock (BLK). Goldman bankers John Waldron and Raghav Maliah led the negotiations to fruition in a matter of weeks.

Oftentimes, large deals such as this one with Hutchison are advised by more than one investment bank, so it’s a clear strategic win for Goldman to be the sole advisor on this deal.

One aspect of the ports deal is that Hutchison owns ports on both sides of the Panama Canal, a strategic shipping lane that Donald Trump has threatened to take back control of from Panama. The Central American nation has said it is not interested in selling its control.

News reports say that the current owner of Hutchison, the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, has been fielding pressure from US officials to divest these Panama ports.

The agreement to sell is "purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama ports,” said CK Hutchison’s Co-Managing Director Frank Sixt in a statement.

Hutchison will continue to control ports in mainland China and other locations in Asia.

Goldman Sachs stock forecast

The deal was announced following Tuesday's poor performance as many financial stocks sold off due to Trump's 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and those nations promising retaliation.

Goldman stock is looking like it's in a downtrend at this point, coming off of February 18's all-time high of $672.19. Still, it needs to break below the January 13 range low of $556.76 to become prominent.

Tuesday's sell-off led GS shares to move below the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) for the first time since last September. With the 200-day in close contact with the bottom trendline in the $530s, eager buyers should wait for Goldman stock to find support there.

GS daily stock chart

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Author

Clay Webster

FXStreet

Clay Webster grew up in the US outside Buffalo, New York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He began investing after college following the 2008 financial crisis.

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