Singapore 11/01/2016 - Noble Group chairman Richard Elman has lifted his stake in the commodity trader whose share price has slumped after its credit rating was cut to junk amid a global commodity price rout.
Elman bought 10 million shares for S$3.19 million ($2.2 million) last Friday, raising his holding to 22.13 percent from 21.98 percent, according to a company statement to the Singapore Exchange on Monday.
Credit rating agencies Standard & Poor and Moody’s have both recently downgraded Noble’s bond ratings to junk on liquidity concerns despite the company’s $750 sale of its stake in agriculture unit Noble Agri to pay down debt.
Analysts have downgraded their price targets for Noble Group as well. Singapore’s OCBC Investment Research dropped its target price to 44 Singapore cents from 54 cents, while DBS Vickers has cut its target to 42 Singapore cents from 49 cents.
“Going forward, we suspect that the share price volatility may persist, given the more muted outlook for the global commodities market,” said OCBC’s Carey Wong in a note on Noble Group last Thursday.
Noble’s share price last traded 4.4 percent lower at 32.5 Singapore cents so far on Monday, taking its decline so far in the new year to 20 percent.