BlackRock (BLK) is in discussions with the Aponte family, which owns Mediterranean Shipping Company, to carve out two Panama ports from their $22.8 billion acquisition of dozens of ports from CK Hutchison, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.

The BlackRock-MSC consortium and Hutchison are in the middle of a 145-day exclusive negotiating window and have yet to sign definitive agreements, according to the report.

While disputes over the two ports along the Panama Canal are resolved, the Italian tycoons still want to move ahead with the majority of the deal involving terminals at 41 ports on five continents, the sources told WSJ.

The deal has two components of different ownership structures for the Panama ports and everything else with talks moving on parallel tracks, the people said, adding that separation of the Panama ports will ultimately require the parties to reach a new agreement.

BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said last week that the deal is still being treated as a single transaction that includes the Panamanian ports, according to WSJ.

The global portion of the transaction is expected to be completed in three to six months, while the Panama portion of the transaction could take up to a year, the people reportedly said.

BlackRock, MSC and Hutchison did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment on the matter.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)