BlackRock's Fink made Trump happy with Panama Canal deal. The cost may be an unhappy China.

Last year, BlackRock paid $12 billion to buy private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners — a major investor in energy, transportation, and infrastructure projects — and GIP was part of the consortium that agreed to buy the ports at either end of the Panama Canal.
"There may be some pressure for this group to spin out or announce another deal to sort of regain some marketplace credibility," Seifert added.
The deal negotiated by BlackRock and GIP involves much more than just the Panama ports — it includes a total of 43 ports in 23 countries.
Fink, speaking at a Houston energy conference earlier this month, said there were some misconceptions about the deal as reported in the press. One was that BlackRock itself was buying the entire canal.
"My kids called me and said, 'BlackRock bought the Panama Canal? Can we go on it?' And I said, 'We did not buy the Panama Canal.'"
He also said the "far left" and "far right" didn’t mention that there were many other ports in the deal, including six along the Suez Canal. "They mentioned we bought two" — the ones along the Panama Canal.
Those two ports, he said, represent 4% of the total value of the transaction.
He noted that ports do offer a great business for BlackRock, which will now have 100 in its portfolio if this deal goes through. They can produce returns of 15% to 16%, he said.
"Even with tariffs and other things, it means the ports will be quite active," he said.