Blackrock (BLK)

[Mithrandir77]

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: Infrastructure will be the largest growing sector in private capital

 

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink joins ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the company’s alternatives business, 3 company acquisitions in 2024, succession plans, and more.

 

[Mithrandir77]

BlackRock's Panama Canal deal is latest win for chief Larry Fink's strong start to Trump era

 

Zitat

BlackRock (BLK) CEO Larry Fink is notching some early wins in the new Trump era.

The latest came Tuesday as the world’s largest money manager announced that a BlackRock-led investment coalition would take control of two key ports on either end of the Panama Canal for the price of $22.8 billion.

The move essentially gives President Donald Trump something he asked for — a larger American presence at this vital shipping lane where he had alleged Chinese interference.

The ports being picked up by BlackRock are owned by Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holding. The canal itself is still controlled by Panama, which still needs to sign off on the BlackRock-led purchase.

Fink himself reached out to the White House, according to a report by Bloomberg, after Trump in his first day as president said of the canal that he wanted to "take it back."

He argued to the White House, according to Bloomberg, that there would be no need to forcibly take the ports if BlackRock were to arrange a purchase on its own.

Even as BlackRock makes these adjustments, it is making a deeper push into alternative assets with three recent acquisitions that cost it more than $27 billion. They included private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners, a player in energy, transportation, and digital infrastructure projects.

Global Infrastructure Partners is part of the consortium that agreed Tuesday to buy the ports at either end of the Panama Canal, along with BlackRock and Terminal Investment Limited. The deal includes a total of 43 ports in 23 countries.

"These world-class ports facilitate global growth," Fink said in a joint announcement of the deal, adding that "we are increasingly the first call for partners seeking patient, long-term capital. We are thrilled our clients can participate in this investment.”

The AP reported that Frank Sixt, co-managing director of CK Hutchison, said in a statement that the transaction was "the result of a rapid, discrete but competitive process in which numerous bids and expressions of interest were received" and that the deal was "wholly unrelated to recent political news reports concerning the Panama Ports."