Banks and hedge funds drawn into Noble Group’s legal fights

Noble Group’s dissident shareholder Goldilocks Investment Co listed a raft of hedge funds and banks, including Goldman Sachs Group and Deutsche Bank AG, as defendants in its legal battle against the commodity trader, as the fund presses on with an 11th-hour bid to stop its debt- for-equity swap.Goldilocks last week initiated legal action in Singapore’s High Court against Noble, seeking to halt the restructure and block any attempt to move the trader’s main interests to the UK. According to a court summons seen by Bloomberg, the Abu Dhabi-based fund listed Noble and its directors as defendants, as well as the hedge funds and banks that it says are the creditors supporting the planned rescue.The defendants include Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, Deutsche Bank AG, ING Bank NV, as well as Taconic Capital Advisors LP, Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC, Strategic Value Partners LLC, BFAM Partners (Hong Kong), Varde Partners Asia, Arkkan Capital Management, Cowell & Lee Advisors and Attestor Capital LLP.After years of crisis, Noble’s battle for survival has descended into legal fights and public sparring between the company, its creditors and Goldilocks, which is fighting the rescue, saying that it is unfair on shareholders. Houlihan Lokey Inc, which is acting for the ad hoc group of creditors backing the proposal, has said the deal is only viable option.At present, more than 80% of senior creditors support the deal, which will see about half of the $3.4bn debt burden written off, as does top shareholder and founder Richard Elman. Under the proposal, existing shareholders would get 15% in a new company, which Goldilocks says is too small. It’s also raised concerns about the company’s management and their actions in recent months as the rescue plan has come together.In a separate case heard on Friday, the court approved Goldilocks’ request for an injunction to stop Noble from holding its annual general meeting, scheduled for April 30, but didn’t restrain the company from holding future special general meetings. Noble said it plans to go ahead with such a meeting to approve the disposal of a ship today.Representatives from ING, Taconic, Davidson Kempner, Varde, Strategic Value, Attestor and Cowell & Lee were yet to respond to requests for comment, some of which were made outside usual business hours. Deutsche Bank, Goldman, BFAM, Arkkan and Och- Ziff declined to comment. Nobody answered calls to Houlihan Lokey’s media advisers in Asia and an external representative for Noble couldn’t immediately comment.The claims by Goldilocks “are an intentional attempt to obfuscate, delay, derail and/or prevent the implementation of the restructuring,” Noble said in a statement on Thursday. “The company and its directors will vigorously defend each of the claims and, at the appropriate time, seek costs orders.”Last week, the creditors backing the restructure warned time is fast running out to get the proposal through, saying the plan is the sole option to save the trader. Houlihan Lokey hasn’t identified the members of the ad hoc group that it represents.The cases are Goldilocks Investment Co vs Noble Group HC/OS 480/2018 and HC/OS 481/2018.