Noble Group Ltd. CEO, Chairman, and Founder Richard Elman, 71, will soon install a new CEO at the helm of the company, according to a recent posting of an interview with Bloomberg on the Noble website. The article noted that Noble has grown into Asia’s biggest listed commodity trader by sales in its 25-year history, overtaking century-old rivals in Japan, including Marubeni Corp.
In November 2011, Noble posted its first quarterly loss in 14 years. Elman became acting CEO in addition to chairman when CEO Ricardo Leiman quit Nov. 9, 2011, the day after Noble announced the $17.5 million quarterly loss. Leiman’s departure followed those of other major executives – Executive Chairman Tobias Brown, Senior Executive Vice President Peter James O’Donnell, and CFO Stephen Jeffrey Marzo – all over the past 12 months.
The loss, particularly in its cotton and carbon credit markets, spurred Noble into a period of review, as well as into a downgrade by Standard & Poor’s to credit watch with negative implications.
Elman told Bloomberg he believes these issues are now in the past. He said the company, which is partially owned by China’s sovereign wealth fund, is in good shape and is expected to grow this year amid tough market conditions.