Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Friday, March 7th.

Today on Forbes, Lee K. Xing's C.K. Hutchison to sell Panama Canal ports to BlackRock

as part of $23 billion deal.

C.K. Hutchison Holdings, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate controlled by billionaire Li Kha Xing,

has agreed to sell a majority stake in its Panama Canal ports to a Black Rock-led consortium.

This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump raised concerns over perceived Chinese influence

on the critical trade waterway.

C.K. Hutchison said late this past Tuesday that it's selling a 90% stake in its Panama

Ports Company to BlackRock and its Global Infrastructure Partners Unit, as well as terminal investment,

the port unit of Swiss billionaire Jean-Louigi Aponte's shipping giant MSC. Panama Ports Company

operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in the pro-U.S.

country, which are located at either side of the Panama Canal. Balboa is on the Pacific

ocean end, and Cristobal is on the Atlantic Ocean side. The deal also involves C.K.

Hutchison divesting an 80% interest in Hutchison ports,

which operates 43 ports in 23 countries, the company said in a statement.

The deal is worth $22.8 billion, and will earn C.K. Hutchison cash proceeds of more than $19 billion,

if finalized, according to the statement.

The consortium has agreed that negotiations will be on an exclusive basis for 145 days.

Shares of C.K. Hutchison on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange surged almost 22% on Wednesday,

boosting its market cap to $180.4 billion Hong Kong dollars, or the equivalent

to $23.2 billion U.S. dollars. C.K. Hutchison, whose business operations spanned ports,

retail, infrastructure, and telecommunications in about 50 countries, has in recent months

...