Noble Group set to name new CEO

Founder Richard Elman said the vacant executive helm will be filled up soon.

Elman took over as acting CEO after RIcardo Leiman resigned last November after the commodities supplier suffered its worst quarter in more than a decade.

Noble Group ended a 14-year streak in profitability that month, which the company blamed on lackluster cotton and carbon credit markets.

Elman also suggested that a new mangement structure could see his control diminish.

"I expect some other management changes that will allow me over the shortest period of time to take life a little bit easy," Elman told Susan Li and Rishaad Salamat in an interview on Bloomberg's TV's "Asia Edge."

"It's necessary for me to do it and I'd like to do it, but we will get a proper succession management in place before that. I promise that to myself and all the shareholders," he added.

Noble's rapid growth over the last decade had also made it "a little bit lazy" as the company posted its first quarterly loss in 14 years in November, Elman said.

"We just have to shape up and deal with the situation. Everybody just has to be a little more cautious, a little more alert," he added.

Elman became acting CEO in addition to his chairman's role after CEO Ricardo Leiman quit on Nov.9, the day Noble announced a $17.5 million quarterly loss. Leiman's departure followed those of Executive Chairman Tobias Brown, Senior Executive Vice President Peter James O'Donnell and Chief Financial Officer Stephen Jeffrey Marzo, all in the space of 12 months.

The loss, due to underperformance in the cotton and carbon credit markets, threw Noble into a "major review" of its businesses to improve profitability, the company said Nov.9 in a statement. Standard & Poor's placed the company on credit watch with negative implications, saying Noble's financial strength has "weakened" and diminishing cash flows leave it with a higher leverage than appropriate to the current BBB- rating. BBB- is the lowest investment grade.

"I believe this is an issue of the past," Elman assured in a separate interview today to Bloomberg News. "We continue on a daily basis to strengthen the balance sheet, to improve the cash flow, to improve all the various ratios."