Noble spat intensifies as counter-attack launched

摘要

The war of words between noble croup and its critics intensified last week as the CEO of the Hong Kong-based commodities trader launched a scathing counter-attack against one of the company's most ardent critics. Noble CEO Yusuf Alireza, a former Goldman Sachs partner, said Michael Dee, a former Morgan Stanley banker, had gone "a step too far" in calling for the resignation of Richard Elman, the founder and chairman of Noble. Alireza addressed several of Dee's other main concerns, including the company's valuation of its 13% stake in Australia-based Yancoal using a cashflow model rather than the market price of the stock. "Noble's valuation approach is reasonable and consistent with practice in the mining industry and accounting policies," wrote Alireza in a four-page open letter.