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Shareholder revolt emerges as key risk for Noble Group debt deal

Bloomberg Published on Thu, Mar 15, 2018 / 2:49 PM GMT+8

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(Mar 15): A revolt by Noble Group’s shareholders has emerged as one of the major threats to the struggling trading house’s US$3.5 billion ($4.6 billion) restructuring deal after it agreed terms with a group of hedge fund creditors.

If shareholders vote against the deal, the company will seek to implement the restructuring as a prepackaged administration in the UK, an action that would effectively concede the company’s insolvent, Noble said on Wednesday as it announced an agreement on the terms of the restructuring with 46% of its senior creditors.

Noble is teetering on the brink of collapse following a crisis that started three years ago when then-unknown Iceberg Research began publishing critiques of the company’s accounting. Since then, the company’s been battered by losses and its stock driven to near two-decade lows while asset sales have reduced it to a shadow of its former self.