Deals
Italian Tycoon Emerges as Lead Player in Li Ka-shing’s Port Deal
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Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s family-run business will be the lead investor of a group seeking to buy 43 ports from Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, people familiar with the matter said, a deal that’s been fiercely opposed by China over US involvement.
The deal was originally described as a consortium that included the Aponte family’s Geneva-based Terminal Investment Ltd., known as TiL, Global Infrastructure Partners and BlackRock Inc. As details of the consortium trickle out, however, it’s emerged that TiL will take on ownership of all but two of the ports, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing previously unreported details of the transaction.