China Investment Corp. (CIC) offered a 4.5% stake in Noble Group for sale with reports that a deal has been completed worth US$310 million. The retreat of CIC to a holding of 10% in Noble has overshadowed a $1.5 billion investment by COFCO which bought a 51% stake in Noble after buying control of Dutch grain trader Nidera earlier this year. COFCO’s stake in Noble is valued at 1.15 times book value and is valued at $3 billion. Sixty percent of the shares will be held in an investment vehicle owned by COFCO and the remaining 40% will be split between Temasek, International Finance Corp., Standard Chartered, and private equity group Hopu. Noble Group’s founder and chairman, Richard Elman states that the transaction marks the group’s “continued development’” of its “bulk commodity business”. The sale of stock by CIC still leaves it as Noble Group’s top external shareholder but points toward CIC’s move away from raw materials toward financial stocks.
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