Noble ID quits, saying he has 'contributed all he usefully could' to restructuring

AN independent director at Noble Group - the embattled commodities firm at the centre of investigations by Singapore authorities - resigned on Thursday, saying he believes that he has "contributed all he usefully could in relation to the restructuring of Noble". 

David Yeow resigned after some three years on the post, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday. 

The Singapore regulators this week stunned the market with a joint investigation into Noble for suspected false and misleading statements and breaches of disclosure requirements under securities law, as well as potential non-compliance with accounting standards under the Companies Act by Noble Resources International Pte Ltd. 

The Noble probe is being launched some three years after alarms were first raised.

There appears no clarity on whether the commodity group will be able to forge ahead with its hard-fought debt rescue plan or it risks being upended. Noble, for one, seemed confident, stating in an early Wednesday announcement that the proposed restructuring is in the best interests of all stakeholders and that it will work towards implementing it "within the previously disclosed timelines".

The new Noble - a crunched down version of old Noble that was once Asia's top commodity trader but sold billions of dollars of assets as it tottered on hefty debts - is expected to be listed in less than a week on the Singapore Exchange, an event that was set to mark the fruition of a protracted and acrimonious US$3.5 billion debt revamp to save the Hong Kong-based firm.

Trading in shares of Noble remains suspended.