What's left of Noble as it retreats to its Asian roots in effort to survive

Singapore

IT'S the end of an era for Noble Group Ltd. Three decades after its founding, and from a perch among the world's top commodity traders, the company is abandoning its global ambitions and falling back to its Asian roots in a last-ditch effort to survive.

Noble is selling its North American gas & power unit to rival Mercuria Energy Group Ltd and is seeking buyers for its global oil liquids business as it grapples with losses of as much as US$1.8 billion in the second quarter. That will leave the Hong Kong-based firm - once a rival to trading behemoths like Glencore Plc in its global reach across multiple commodities - as effectively an Asian trader of coal, iron ore, freight and liquefied natural gas, with a market value of less than US$400 million.