Richard Elman, the 77-year-old founder and largest shareholder of Noble Group Ltd., quit due to "differences of opinion" with the firm’s board and creditors over its future, in a fresh blow to the trading house’s attempts to push through a massive debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. The statement Friday came less than two hours after a regulatory filing showed that Elman this week trimmed his stake in Noble from 18.07 percent to 17.94 percent.

Noble Group Ltd said more creditors backed its debt restructuring agreement, making it difficult for those who opposed the deal to try and wind up the company, after it defaulted on a $394 million bond that matured this week, Reuters reported. The Singapore-listed commodity trader is seeking a $3.4 billion debt restructuring seen as critical for the beleaguered firm’s survival. But the deal has been opposed by some bondholders and shareholders, including Goldilocks Investment Co, which has an 8.1 percent stake in the firm.

The cost of Noble Group Ltd.’s restructuring is likely to top $100 million, another financial burden for the cash-strapped commodities trader that has defaulted on its bonds, Bloomberg News reported. The estimated price tag for advisers and other expenses, based on disclosures in regulatory filings, is approaching the company’s entire market value of $114 million as Noble pays fees to the company’s creditors and foots much of the bill for the 11 law firms, investment banks and public relations consultants working on the restructuring.

Noble Group Ltd. is racing against time to garner enough votes for a debt restructuring plan after its decision not to pay a $379 million bond due Tuesday sets it on course for its first note default, Bloomberg News reported. The failed payment is set to prompt an “event of default” under the terms of its bond documents. The company has opted for non-payment to preserve assets “for the benefit of all stakeholders during the implementation of the proposed restructuring,” it said in a filing Friday.

One of the biggest shareholders in Noble Group has attacked its new debt restructuring proposal, which it says will reward the company’s “errant and undeserving management”. Cranking up the pressure on the stricken commodity trader, Goldilocks Investment, an 8.1 per cent shareholder, said it was “astounded” that the company had continued to ignore calls to make the restructuring more equitable, the Financial Times reported. It also attacked the company’s plans to bulldoze through the debt-for-equity swap via a prepackaged administration in the UK.

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.