Noble Group Acquires Cocoa Operations of Andri & Cie SA SINGAPORE, June 1 /PRNewswire Asia-AsiaNet/-- Noble Group Limited (NOBL) announced today the purchase of the cocoa trading, warehousing, packaging and distribution operations of Swiss-based Andri & Cie SA. The acquired operations will significantly expand Noble's existing cocoa trading business by enabling it to directly source cocoa at the origin of its production and to control the packaging and distribution of its cocoa around the world. Included in the purchase are state-of-the-art warehousing and packaging plants in dominant producer countries. The acquired entities will now trade under the name Noble Cocoa SA. Richard Elman, Chairman of Noble Group, noted that the acquisition "Holds excellent prospects for the Noble Group. By dint of this acquisition Noble Cocoa is now positioned as one of the leading distributors and traders of cocoa in the world. In addition to a set of terrific physical assets we have also supplemented our existing cocoa operations with a highly talented team of experienced professionals." "We are very enthusiastic about the future prospects for Noble Cocoa. We are currently forecasting that the acquisition will be highly accretive to Noble's earnings and should boost the Group's turnover by approximately US$200mm over the next 12 months." About Noble Group Noble Group Limited is a Hong Kong-based, Singapore-listed worldwide supplier of industrial, agricultural raw materials and transport resources. The group links producers and consumers, uniquely integrating sourcing, marketing, processing and transportation and e-commerce through http://www.rawmart.com. Outside of Asia, Noble Americas trades in coal and coke, fertilisers, cocoa and oxygenates and refined oil products. Noble Europe's activities include product and service marketing, the supervision of shipping, the cost-effective delivery of product lines. Noble also trades in sugar globally, linking sugar producers with customers from both developing and developed economies. Noble operates a network of 32 offices worldwide. They are located in Beijing, Mumbai, Kochi (India), Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Karachi, Lausanne, London, Manila, Moscow, Newcastle (Australia), New Delhi, Shanghai, Singapore, Stamford (USA), Taipei, Tokyo, Vietnam and Zurich. Noble (NOBL) is listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited. For more information about Noble, please visit: http://www.thisisnoble.com SOURCE Noble Group Limited CONTACT: Louisa Tam of Noble Group, +852-2861-3511, or fax, +852-2527-0282, or [email protected]/ Web Site: http://www.thisisnoble.com http://www.rawmart.com