Overview

• Comptroller General Anel Flores has filed two suits with the Supreme Court to declare the 2021 renewal of CK Hutchison’s Balboa and Cristobal port concession unconstitutional and nullify the contract.
• Flores’s audit uncovered “many irregularities” in the renewal process, including bypassing the required Comptroller’s approval.
• The legal challenge has suspended CK Hutchison’s 25-year concession and jeopardized a $23 billion MSC-BlackRock bid to acquire the ports as part of a global deal.
• President Jose Raul Mulino says he will pursue interim public-private partnerships at Balboa and Cristobal pending the court verdict.
• If the Supreme Court invalidates the contract, Panama could re-tender port operations, altering governance of a critical link in global trade routes.