Noble Group repurchases part of bonds due 2018, 2020

[SINGAPORE] Singapore-listed commodity trader Noble Group Ltd said on Thursday it had bought back part of two bonds, trimming its debt after the company was hit by a commodity market downturn and attacks on its accounting practices.

The company had repurchased US$31.6 million of its 6.75 per cent US dollar fixed rate senior notes due 2020, representing about 2.6 per cent of the total principal amount outstanding immediately before the repurchase, it said.

Noble has also bought back US$1 million of its 3.625 per cent US dollar fixed rate notes due 2018, or 0.26 per cent of the total principal outstanding.

Noble, which has a total of US$2.5 billion worth of loans due this year according to Thomson Reuters LPC data, is holding an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in Singapore on Thursday.

Noble shares opened down 1.8 per cent at S$0.27, near a more than 12-year low of S$0.265 hit earlier in the month.

REUTERS