Cofco Noble II

completed

Noble Agri, recently spun out of Noble Group, is a global agri commodities company, involved in the origination, processing and distribution of grains and oilseeds, sugar and ethanol, and other soft commodities (coffee and cotton). It operates through 60 major offices around the world, including Brazil, China, Argentina, Eastern Europe, India and South Africa and has over 13,000 employees. IFC is considering an investment to participate its pro-rata share to buy out the 49% minority stake of Noble Group in Noble Agri, together with COFCO Corporation (“COFCO”), the leading agribusiness group in China, and an international consortium of investors (IC, including IFC, HOPU Fund and other investors). This is a follow-on investment (project no. 34738) in which COFCO and the IC bought a 51% shareholding in Noble Agri through a subsidiary and created a joint-venture trading platform to capitalize on potential synergies across the supply chain with COFCO. IFC’s investment transferred into an indirect ownership of 4.6 percent in Noble Agri.