China trader in talks to buy Noble's agri-business

[HONG KONG] China's biggest grains trader Cofco Corp is in talks to buy Noble Group's agri-business arm in a deal that would value the division at around US$1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Acquiring the Noble unit would help China develop a powerful agricultural trading house, an entity the country has lacked. Chinese trading firm Unipec is already one of the world's biggest crude oil buyers.

State-backed Cofco, which last week agreed to buy a 51 per cent stake in Dutch grain trader Nidera, is conducting due diligence on the Noble unit, said the sources who declined to be identified because the matter is not yet public.