Noble Group Ltd. (NOBL), Asia’s biggest publicly traded commodity supplier, will target agricultural assets in the U.S. as it seeks to meet demand from China and sees potential for deals across its units.
“It’s hard to be the supplier and partner of choice for China in the grain space, and especially in the corn space, without having significant origination assets in the U.S.,” CEO Yusuf Alireza said today in an interview with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up” program. “Over the medium term, that’s an investment we’re looking to make.”
Noble announced at least $2 billion of deals in the past three years as it built its sugar operations in Brazil and energy assets in the U.S. and Australia. The Hong Kong-based company last month said it was time to build the agriculture unit after shelving plans to sell shares in the business.
“We’re seeing a consolidation process in the agriculture sector and that’s going to arise very significant opportunities,” Alireza said today. Noble is considering different options including acquisitions and potential partnerships with U.S. companies, he said.
