Hong Kong

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.

Noble Group Ltd., the embattled commodities trader, faces several significant deadlines as it wrestles with a $3.5 billion debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. Once Asia’s largest commodity trader, Noble’s decline since 2015 has been marked by losses, concern it won’t be able to pay its debt and accusations from long-time foe Iceberg Research that it inflated the value of some contracts. The next few weeks will be crucial, as Noble looks to push its debt restructuring through. One focus is Dec. 20.

Noble Group Ltd.’s long-time foe Iceberg Research made a fresh attack on the embattled commodity trader on Tuesday, saying that its balance sheet may still mask problems and that the company’s bid to restructure its obligations won’t lead to a turnaround, Bloomberg News reported. “The problem with this company is not only that assets have been wildly overvalued. Some liabilities have probably been drastically undervalued,” Iceberg said in an open letter to the creditors of the Hong Kong-based company.

Noble Group, the commodity trader wrestling with a $3.5bn debt pile, has continued its fire sale of assets, offloading an ethanol plant in Indiana for a loss, the Financial Times reported. The Singapore-listed company on Monday announced a deal to sell North Americas South Bend Ethanol (NASBE) business to Zeeland, a privately-owned US group, for just $12.5m – or $17m including inventories and working capital. At the end of September, NASBE was carried in Noble’s books at a valuation of just over $80m.

A default by Noble Group Ltd. now “appears probable,” according to Fitch Ratings Inc., which cut the Hong Kong-based commodity trader’s credit rating by two steps, adding further pressure on executives as they seek to hammer out fresh terms with their lenders, Bloomberg News reported. Fitch cut the trader to CC from CCC, deeper into junk territory, according to a statement on Friday that came just before the close of trade in Asia.

How does a company with $262 million in the bank and looming restructuring talks with creditors carry out an $8.4 billion takeover? Ask Noble Group Ltd. Harbour Energy Ltd., an investment vehicle in which Noble had a 75 percent stake in January, is due to present a deal within weeks offering about that much for oil and gas producer Santos Ltd., the Australian Financial Review reported Thursday without saying where it got the information, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary.

What a debt restructuring at Noble Group Ltd. might look like has become an even more pressing question after the beleaguered commodity trader started talks with stakeholders on potential options to address its capital structure. The company said discussions are at a preliminary stage and in line with its objectives to “manage the maturity of its borrowings,” moving it a step closer toward restructuring its borrowings, Bloomberg News reported. The coming weeks are likely to be critical for the company, which posted another $1 billion-plus loss in the third quarter.

For more than two years, the story of whether Noble Group Ltd. will survive or implode has gripped the global commodities industry, Bloomberg News reported. The next chapter gets written on Thursday as the Hong Kong-based trader reports quarterly results after the close of trade in Asia. Another vast loss has been flagged after the profit-warning last month, with Noble Group guiding a range of $1.1 billion to $1.25 billion. At the same time, the company founded decades ago by Richard Elman struck a deal to downsize drastically by offloading its prized oil-trading unit to Vitol Group.