SINGAPORE • Noble Group Ltd is being investigated by three Singaporean agencies for “suspected false and misleading statements” and breaches of disclosure requirements, more than three years after a whistleblower questioned the company’s accounting.
The commodity trader is just days away from completing a US$3.5 billion (RM14.66 billion) debt restructuring that would have staved off bankruptcy after years of crisis triggered by Iceberg Research’s claims that the company inflated profits. Singapore’s market regulator said the revamp is now dependent on its review of the probe by the three agencies, though it remains unclear how it can delay the deal after giving approval in August.
The investigation is an extraordinary twist in the saga of the once US$12 billion company that’s shredded billions in value since 2015, reduced to a rump by untenable debt and writedowns. It also marks the first major public action by Singapore’s regulators, which had been criticised for failing to act on the allegations by Iceberg and other critics.
The probe — which also focuses on one of Noble Group’s units — is being conducted by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD); the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s de facto central bank; and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.
An external spokeswoman for the company couldn’t immediately comment. A spokesman for the regulatory arm of Singapore Exchange Ltd said the restructuring would depend on its review of the authorities’ investigation, including financial statements disclosed in the documentation underpinning the deal.
“CAD and MAS have directed Noble Group and Noble Resources International Pte Ltd (NRI) to produce documents relating to the preparation of Noble Group’s financial statements, following a thorough review of other relevant information, including information referred to the authorities by the Singapore Exchange Regulation Pte Ltd and other third parties,” the three agencies said.
Noble Group — which is to be taken over by its senior creditors should the revamp be finalised as expected early next week — has been dogged for years by claims that its accounts have been unreliable, especially in relation to the valuation of gains on some long-term contracts. Those accusations have routinely been denied by the trader and its executives, who’ve stood by the integrity of the bookkeeping. The statement from the investigating agencies didn’t give details.
Iceberg, run by a Noble Group ex-senior credit analyst called Arnaud Vagner, published a report in 2015 claiming that the trading house’s long-term contracts were probably overvalued by about US$3.8 billion. Since then, Noble has written down, or taken reserves against, more than that. “We were too conservative,” Vagner said in an interview earlier this year.
NRI is Noble Group’s key corporate entity in Singapore and the subsidiary through which much of its core coal business operates. — Bloomberg
RELATED ARTICLES

No moratorium extension but banks will offer restructuring & rescheduling: BNM




