SINGAPORE/NEW YORK • Three senior executives from Noble Group have left the company in the past week as the commodity trader battles weak prices of resources, people familiar with the matter said.
Senior M&A and investments executive , Ms Ellen Chon, has resigned, marking a string of recent senior-level departures at the commodities trading firm.
Ms Chon, who has been with the company for more than six years, is currently on leave, said the people, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
It was not immediately clear where Ms Chon, who had previously worked at Goldman Sachs, was going.
The resignation of Hong Kong-based Ms Chon comes as the commodity downturn is dimming the prospects for commodity traders and producers.
Two other senior US-based energy executives have also left the group in the past week, sources said on Thursday.
Mr Brian Falik, the company's US head of energy capital since 2012, and Ms Andrea Valerio, the Connecticut-based managing director of oil liquids, have both resigned, according to three people familiar with the matter. Ms Valerio had been with the company for over nine years and was responsible for trading oxygenates, including ethanol, MTBE and methanol.
It was unclear why the executives left the company or what they would be doing next.
Mr Stephen Brown, a Noble spokesman, said the company does not comment on personnel matters. Noble has come under pressure from shareholders due to a fall in commodity prices and questions about its corporate accounting practices.
Noble defended its financials, and board-appointed consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers found no wrongdoing in a report published in August.
Its shares have slumped nearly 75 per cent since last year.
They ended yesterday's trading on the local bourse 3.7 per cent lower at 39.5 cents.
REUTERS
An earlier version of this Reuters story stated that Ms Ellen Chon was the global M&A head of Noble Group at the time of her resignation, when she was actually a senior M&A executive. This mistake was corrected by Reuters on Oct 4, 2015.
