Noble Group's chairman determined to avoid repeat of Lehman

SINGAPORE: the Noble Group Ltd. executive charged with restructuring the beleaguered commodity trader has no intention of getting embroiled in another bankruptcy.

After winning shareholder approval for the sale of its gas and power unit on Tuesday, Chairman Paul Brough, who oversaw the liquidation of Lehman Brothers’ assets in Asia, said Noble will likely find a buyer for its oil business by the end of the month and get an extension on a credit line beyond October. 

The company would then have the room to settle a repayment plan with its banks and avoid default, he said.

“I don’t go into companies with the intention of liquidating them; I am a restructuring man,” Brough told a shareholders’ meeting in Singapore. 

“I have only once ever been in a Chapter 11 situation with Lehman Brothers, and I don’t wish to go there again. So rest assured, I’m doing all I can to avoid any kind of formal process, and I’m doing all I can to try and turn the business around.”

Noble is fighting for survival more than two years into a crisis marked by criticisms of its accounting, a plunge in its securities and credit rating downgrades. The trader is selling units to shore up its finances after posting a $1.75 billion loss in the second quarter amid a surge in indebtedness. 

Moody’s Investors Service has warned the sales may be insufficient to cover its debt, while S&P Global Ratings sees a risk of default in the next six months.

Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. bought the gas and power operation for $261 million, according to a circular to shareholders.

Selling the oil business, and extending the credit facility as well as a covenant waiver, would give Noble “a reasonably good platform now to sit down with our banks and talk about a repayment plan,” Brough said.

Once Asia’s largest commodity trader, the company’s market value has shrunk to just $400 million from more than $10 billion at the end of 2010. Noble’s shares fell 1.2 percent to 41 Singapore cents by 10:28 a.m. Wednesday, taking losses this year to 76 percent.

Repayment Plan

“Circumstances are very difficult indeed,” including relationships with lenders, Brough said on Tuesday.