Singapore 30/05/2016 - Noble Group announced on Monday that it will shortly be starting the sale process for Noble Americas Energy Solutions - a retail energy supplier in the US - as part of its fund raising initiative.
The transaction is expected to generate both significant cash proceeds and profits to substantially enhance the balance sheet, it said.
Full details will be released in the near future, the Singapore-listed company added.
Noble had said earlier in May that its top priority for the rest of the year is to deliver at least an additional $1 billion in liquidity by redeploying capital employed from low-return businesses, non-core asset sales and other capital raising initiatives.
It had recently sold its agriculture unit Noble Agri for $750 million.
Noble booked an overall consolidated net profit of $40 million in the first quarter of this year, swinging from a $1.87-billion net loss in the October-December quarter.
The metals and mining business at Noble Group also returned to profit in the January-March quarter, with the segment reporting a $7-million profit before interest and tax after resizing and rationalising its metals operations, and focusing on the aluminium supply chain.
On Monday, Noble also announced the resignation of its chief executive officer Yusuf Alireza and the appointment of new co-CEOs William Randall and Jeff Frase.