Hong Kong Executive Council member Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung has called on the public to refrain from criticising Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison Holdings planned sale of two Panama ports, saying that many who commented had not even read the terms of the deal.
Lam, also a legislative councillor from the business sector, said on Sunday that the public should “wait and calm down”.
He said while it was normal for companies to acquire or divest their assets, any deals “should be beneficial to the local,” that is, Hong Kong, its government and mainland China.
“Let’s see how Hutchison handles the deal,” he told the Post after speaking to the press. “I hope the outcome will be acceptable to everyone.”
At the centre of the controversy was Hutchison’s plan to sell 43 ports, including two at each end of the Panama Canal, to a consortium led by US investment firm BlackRock, for US$23 billion, a deal that will yield US$19 billion in cash to the conglomerate.
But news of the deal triggered scathing criticism from pro-Beijing media Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao, which in the past week published articles questioning the move and urged the conglomerate to stop proceeding with it as soon as possible or face serious consequences.
