Prudential and Orbis sell 42 million shares in Noble

$5.5m worth of shares were sold in less than a week as Noble approaches a bond default.

The fund managers of Prudential and Orbis have sold around 42.33 million of their shares in Noble Group Limited for a sum of $5.5m from 14 to 19 March, according to announcements filed in the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

On 14 March, Prudential sold 3.36 million shares for 16.85 cents each ($566,160), effectively reducing its stake from 10.14% to 9.89%. Subsidiaries that have an interest in Noble include Eastspring Investments (Singapore) Limited, Prudential plc, Prudential Singapore Holdings Pte. Limited, Prudential Corporation Asia Limited.

Orbis Allan Gray Limited, Allan & Gill Gray Foundation, and Orbis Holdings Limited sold 14.95 million shares for $2.06m (13.8 cents each) on 16 March and 12.48 million shares for $1.43m (11.5 cents each) on 19 March. This reduced their interest in Noble from 10.06% to 8%.

Meanwhile, Orbis Investment Management (Hong Kong) also sold 2.82 million shares for $446,727 (15.8 cents each) on 15 March and 8.73 million shares for $1m (11.5 cents each) on 19 March. This lowered their stake from 9% to 7.38%.

Noble is approaching a default as it has yet to get enough votes for a debt restructuring plan after it decided not to pay a $379m bond due Tuesday. It also previously confirmed that, amidst a US$5b loss, it gave away retention payments worth US$20m to its senior staff that was behind its US oil liquids business last June.