Noble Group’s Elman Increases Stake for Second Day Amid Rout

(Bloomberg) -- Noble Group Ltd. Chairman Richard Elman bought 20 million shares in the past two days in the commodity trading company he founded to try and restore confidence after the shares sank to the lowest since 2008 and the credit rating was cut to junk.

Elman purchased 10 million shares on Monday for S$3.34 million ($2.3 million), raising his holding to 22.28 percent, according to a statement to the Singapore Exchange Tuesday. He’s now bought stock at least nine times in the past year, adding about 50.8 million shares, according to a tally by Bloomberg.

“Any shareholder who thinks their own shares are under- priced will be buying, finances permitting,” Carey Wong, a Singapore-based analyst at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., said by phone. “It’s supposed to signify confidence in the company. Whether he can continue depends on how much funds he has.”

Singapore-listed Noble, which lost about two-thirds of its market value last year amid attacks on its accounts, has extended losses in 2016 after Standard & Poor’s joined Moody’s Investors Service in cutting its rating below investment grade. In the past year, the Hong Kong-based company has sought to reassure investors by paring debt, selling assets and boosting transparency, with Elman pledging to shareholders last June to “right the damage.”

That defense has been undermined as China’s slowdown hurts commodity demand and prices, prompting investors to shun raw- material companies. Noble’s shares sank 3 percent to close at 32.5 Singapore cents on Tuesday, losing 19 percent this year.

Noble executives led by Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Alireza have made efforts to buoy the company’s creditworthiness. They agreed in December to sell the remaining 49 percent of its agricultural unit to China’s Cofco Corp. for at least $750 million to reduce debt. Cofco already owned the other 51 percent.

Noble will hold a special general meeting on Jan. 28 to approve the sale, according to a separate statement on Tuesday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jasmine Ng in Singapore at jng299@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net James Poole