(Hong Kong SAR, 20 August 2026) CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (“CK Hutchison”) announces that it has commenced international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Panama (“Panama”) for breaches of an investment protection treaty through sovereign acts that targeted a decades-old ports concession and destroyed CK Hutchison’s investments in Panama.
CK Hutchison notified Panama of a treaty dispute on 4 February 2026, following a year-long State attack campaign on the company’s assets, and sought to resolve the dispute to no avail.
• Beginning in early 2025, Panama suddenly launched a State attack campaign against CK Hutchison investments that included a sudden new investigation that lacked due process, a reversal of its longstanding legal position that had protected the ports concession for three decades as a matter of law, pursuing a governmental assault on the constitutionality of its own “contract-law” and concession, and the development of a scheme to replace CK Hutchison subsidiary Panama Ports Company, S.A. (“PPC”). Panama has consistently sought to cover up its conduct through disinformation. (....)