Noble Group Ltd. won approval from shareholders today for a $3.5 billion debt-restructuring plan that should ensure the survival of what was once Asia’s biggest commodity trader, Reuters reported. Faced with the prospect of the company’s insolvency, shareholders reluctantly backed a debt-for-equity swap that will leave them owning just 20 percent of the business, while handing majority control to a group of creditors comprised mainly of hedge funds. Noble, founded in 1986 by Richard Elman, who took advantage of a commodities bull run to build it into one of the world’s biggest traders, has had its market value all but wiped out from $6 billion in February 2015. The crisis for the company started that month after Arnaud Vagner, a former employee, published reports anonymously under the name of Iceberg Research that accused Noble of inflating its assets. The upheaval triggered a share price collapse, credit downgrades, writedowns and asset sales.
