AsianFin -- CK Hutchison’s planned sale of its $22.8 billion ports business is unlikely to close soon, with people familiar with the matter saying a Sunday deadline for exclusive negotiations will likely be extended. The delay comes as rising U.S.-China tensions inject political sensitivity into the transaction.

The Hong Kong-based conglomerate has been in talks to sell the majority of its global ports operation—including two terminals along the strategically vital Panama Canal—to a consortium led by BlackRock and MSC, the shipping giant controlled by Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte’s family. But the deal has become increasingly entangled in geopolitical frictions, slowing progress.