Noble Group Ltd said on Monday it plans to start legal proceedings after a little-known research firm accused one Asia's biggest commodities trading houses of inflating profits and understating its debt.
The legal action comes two days after Iceberg Research issued its third report on Noble, saying the Hong Kong-headquartered group had substantially understated its gross and net debt. Singapore-listed Noble has repeatedly rejected the charges.
"We reject their allegations as inaccurate, unreliable and misleading," Noble said in a stock exchange filing. It said it would launch legal proceedings later on Monday at a Hong Kong court. (bit.ly/1CJUx4W)
Noble's shares have lost as much as $1.8 billion in market value following Iceberg's reports, and the company has pledged to provide more disclosures to improve transparency. The 30 percent slump in the share price has, however, thrust Noble on to the radar screens of Asian companies that want a bigger clout in global commodities trading, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The stock rose 4 percent in early trade on Monday.
Noble has previously said an employee it fired in 2013 was behind the Iceberg Research reports. Noble has said the contact person for the company behind Iceberg's blog is a former credit analyst who mainly covered chartering.
Iceberg said its research reports were based on public information released by Noble. "We think what matters is our arguments rather than the identity of Iceberg's members," the firm said in an email to Reuters.
Iceberg has declined to give any details about its members or organization, but has said it is not a short-seller. Analysts said commodity traders like Noble, which often rely on complex methods to value commodity contracts and derivatives on their books, can be attractive targets for shortsellers.
