(March 28): Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's CK Hutchison will not sign a deal next week to sell its two port operations near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock-led group, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said, amid growing pressure from Beijing.

The deal was expected to be signed on April 2, according to the sale announcement made on March 4.

The source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, did not elaborate, saying only that the definite documentation would not be signed due to "obvious reasons".

The person added the development does not mean the deal has been called off.

Local media including Singtao Daily and The South China Morning Post first reported the news.

CK Hutchison and BlackRock did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Chinese authorities have reacted negatively to plans by the conglomerate to sell its ports assets, while the deal was hailed by US President Donald Trump who said he wants to retake control of the strategic waterway.

A CK Hutchison unit operates two of the five ports adjacent to the Panama Canal, which manages about 3% of the global sea-borne trade. Panama first awarded the concession to the company in 1998 to run the ports and extended it for another 25 years in 2021.

The telecoms-to-retail conglomerate has been caught in China's crosshairs in the highly politicised deal which will give a BlackRock consortium the control of 43 ports in 23 countries in total. The deal is expected to garner the firm more than US$19 billion (RM84.2 billion) in cash.

CK Hutchison agreed to negotiations with the BlackRock consortium on an exclusive basis for 145 days.

Pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao said in an editorial piece on March 21 that the transaction should be scrapped as the deal is a "perfect cooperation" with the US strategy to contain China.

Beijing's criticism of CK Hutchison's move to sell its ports business is a precursor to heightened political scrutiny of major Chinese business divestments involving American buyers, analysts have said.

Bloomberg News, earlier in the week, reported that Chinese authorities had told state-owned firms to hold off on any new deals with businesses linked to tycoon Li and his family.

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