Noble Group hunts investor as profit seen up to two years away

SINGAPORE (Sept 19): Noble Group is still seeking a strategic investor as the founder and chairman of the embattled Asian commodities trader says it will take as much as two years for a return to profit.

“A strategic partner is still very possible,” Richard Elman, who is due to stand down as executive chairman by June, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Hong Kong. “But it has to be at the right time and the right candidate.”

Noble is battling to prop up its finances after a torrid 19 months during which its share price collapsed amid attacks on its accounting and the first yearly loss in almost two decades. While Elman  says the company is still on track to raise US$2 billion ($2.73 billion) by cutting jobs, selling shares and assets and even holding back cash from profitable parts of the business, the search for a new investor shows the lengths it’s still prepared to go in the pursuit of new capital.

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