Noble Group chairman expects creditors' proposal soon on debt restructuring

[SINGAPORE] Noble Group Ltd expects to soon receive a proposal from creditors on its debt restructuring, its chairman said, as the struggling commodities trader seeks to keep its business running.

The company remained open to strategic investors and its current priority was to stay out of an insolvency process, chairman Paul Brough, a restructuring specialist who was appointed this year, told Noble's shareholders on Friday.

Noble, once a global commodity trader with ambitions to rival the likes of Glencore or Vitol, has shrivelled to an Asian-centric company focused largely on coal and freight trading.

This comes after a crisis-wracked three years that have forced it to slash jobs and sell assets to cut debt.

Hong Kong-based Noble has about US$3.5 billion in debt.

REUTERS