Noble Group completed an S$42 million $24 million share placement yesterday, on the back of strong investor demand for its stock after announcing record profits last week. The sale of 30 million new shares was priced at S$1.40, a roughly 7% discount to the weighted average traded price of Noble shares on 24 February. Cazenove Asia managed the placement.
The sale comes barely a week after Noble announced record results for 2002. The Hong Kong based and Singapore-listed firm had an extraordinary year in which turnover rose by 61%, profits rose by 37%, EPS rose 29%, NAV increased by 21% and the dividend increased by 25%.
This prodigious performance is all...