Commodity trader Noble cuts base metals team ahead of wider restructure

By Anshuman Daga and Melanie Burton

SINGAPORE/MELBOURNE, April 9 (Reuters) - Noble Group Holdings Ltd (Noble) has cut jobs in its base metals unit following coronavirus-led market disruption, a first step in broader cuts likely to be announced in a strategic review later this month, multiple sources aware of the matter said.

Noble, which took over assets of the under-liquidation Noble Group Ltd in December 2018, has cut about half-a-dozen jobs from its base metals team as part of a wider restructuring plan, three sources familiar with the matter said.

"The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout is having an unprecedented impact on global markets and Noble Group is not immune," a London-based spokesman for the group said in response to a Reuters query.

Noble had let go some base metals traders as it scaled back the unit's expansion plans, the spokesman said without detailing numbers. Two of the sources said Noble employs about 300 staff across its business operations and the job cuts would come in several divisions.

With more than 1.5 million cases reported, the novel coronavirus outbreak has forced many countries to go into lockdown, disrupting global supply chains and battering huge swathes of the global economy.

In a business update last month on its website, Noble said it expected global supply chains to remain disrupted through the third quarter and that it was taking "appropriate actions to address these challenges".

Noble Group Ltd, once Asia's biggest commodity trader, saw its market value all but wiped out from $6 billion in February 2015 after Iceberg Research issued reports accusing it of inflating its assets.

To rescue itself, Noble Group Ltd sold billions of dollars of assets, took hefty writedowns and cut hundreds of jobs over the last few years, while defending its accounting practices.

Sources said last year that Noble was seeking to rebuild its liquefied natural gas and core energy businesses and develop rare earths as it sought new life as a niche, Asia-focused commodity trader.

Noble denied a media report on Wednesday that it was closing its base metals and rare earths trading desks. Trade publication Fastmarkets reported the closures, which it described as part of widespread board-mandated staff cuts across the business.

"Our rare earth and technology metals businesses continue as before as do our branded platforms in energy raw materials, metallurgical coke and coal and our joint venture with the Jamaican government in Jamalco," the Noble spokesman said.

Noble's portfolio comprises a trading division dealing in energy coal, LNG, base metals and other products.

Western banks in particular have been scaling back lending to companies that deal in fossil fuels like energy coal.

Noble has US$800m of financing facilities which are committed for three years, the spokesman said.

Another Noble division houses its investments in alumina company Jamalco and U.S. based oil and gas producer Harbour Energy and other businesses.

(Reporting by Anshuman Daga in Singapore and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in Singapore, and Shivani Singh and Tom Daly in Beijing; Editing by Tom Hogue)