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Noble Group Ltd., the embattled commodity trader seeking to secure investor support for a major debt restructuring, paid $20 million in retention payments to senior staff at its U.S. oil and gas business last June, Bloomberg News reported. The company revealed the payments Wednesday in response to questions from the Singapore Exchange on the remuneration of its former co-Chief Executive Officer Jeff Frase, who led the oil business.

Nearly a year after a shock trading loss sent it spiraling toward collapse, the commodity trader is racing to reach a deal with a group of senior creditors before a $379 million bond maturity on March 20, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. "The clock is really ticking," said Jean-Francois Lambert, a consultant and former head of commodity trade finance at HSBC Holdings Plc.

One of Noble Group Ltd.’s top shareholders has stepped up its criticism of the commodity trader, describing expected losses as “shocking” and warning that the billions in red ink may pile more pressure on investors to agree to a debt-for-equity rescue plan, Bloomberg News reported. The net losses will “erode what little cash Noble has left, and puts further pressure on stakeholders to accept the restructuring proposal,” Goldilocks Investment Co. said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to more writedowns on derivatives contracts as well as fourth-quarter losses on its core business.

A massive annual loss estimate by commodities trader Noble Group makes it more likely that creditors will back its $3.4 billion (2.4 billion pounds) debt-for-equity restructuring to ensure the company's survival, analysts said. Noble, which flagged an annual loss of up to $5 billion on Monday, announced an initial deal with creditors last month to halve its senior debt and give them 70 percent of the company, with existing equity holders diluted to 10 percent, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Noble Group Ltd., the commodity trader battling to survive, warned that it’ll report another vast loss including from the operations meant to sustain a revamped business, and while it signaled progress in debt-restructuring talks, hurdles to a deal remain, Bloomberg News reported. The Hong Kong-based company will report a net loss of $1.73 billion to $1.93 billion for the final quarter of last year, potentially bringing losses for 2017 to almost $5 billion, it said in a statement early on Monday. That meant it had a negative net-asset position of $650 million to $850 million at Dec. 31.

Noble Group Ltd. reached a deal to restructure $3.5 billion in debt, saving the troubled commodity trader from bankruptcy at the cost of handing control to creditors and all but wiping out current shareholders, Bloomberg News reported. After a three-year crisis marked by massive losses, writedowns and controversial accounting, Noble management, bank creditors, and bondholders reached an in-principle agreement that will convert half of the debt -- roughly $1.7 billion -- into new equity, the company said on Monday.

Crisis-hit commodity trader Noble Group is moving closer toward a debt restructuring deal with its lenders, the Financial Times reported. The company’s chairman Paul Brough told shareholders at a meeting in Singapore on Thursday that talks had been “constructive” and were “moving forward”. “I’m hopeful that we will reach a conclusion at some point in the near future,” said Mr Brough, a restructuring expert who was appointed chairman in May.

Noble Group is closing down its London oil desk and winding down its Asia oil operations, sources familiar with the matter said, as heavy losses and high debt force what was once Asia's biggest commodities trader to restructure, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The closures follow the sale of its larger U.S. oil trading business to Vitol, announced in October, and a nine-month loss of some $3 billion reported in November.

Troubled commodity trader Noble Group on Thursday said it had obtained a waiver from creditors to extend covenants on a loan facility to May next year, giving it more time in its debt restructuring negotiations, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The covenants had already been extended twice until mid-December, as Noble battles to recover from two years of crisis.

A deal between Noble Group, the troubled commodity trader, and its creditors could involve a debt-for equity swap that would further dilute existing shareholders, its chairman has warned. Speaking at a shareholder meeting to approve the sale of its oil business to Vitol Group, Noble’s Paul Brough said there would be “more pain” ahead as it tries to restructure its debts to stave off the threat of insolvency, the Financial Times reported. “As we go forward, I think there will be more pain, but there is hope as well,” Mr Brough was reported as saying by Bloomberg.