Paul Chan Wei Sern, an assistant registrar at Singapore's High Court, is set to decide today whether to throw out an action brought by former Noble Group chief executive Ricardo Leiman against Noble Resources.
The firm, through Singapore law practice Advocatus Law, has applied to strike out Leiman's case. He is suing Noble for compensation after claiming that shares and a bonus were wrongly withheld following his resignation, which was announced by Noble on November 9 last year. This was the same day the Hong Kong-headquartered, Singapore-listed commodities group announced a US$17 million net loss for the third quarter, the first quarterly loss in about 14 years.
Leiman claimed he was entitled to acquire or exercise options for at least 13.35 million shares and an annual discretionary bonus of 3 per cent of Noble's net income in 2011. The shares were worth S$21.1 million (HK$129.8 million), based on Noble's share price the day before Leiman's resignation and the group net loss was announced, although the stock has since slumped to S$1.09 yesterday. The bonus was worth US$12.9 million, based on Noble's full-year net profit of US$431.3 million.
Leiman, who joined Noble in 2006, said he and Noble agreed to the resignation after several disagreements with the firm's founder and current chairman Richard Elman.
Industry insiders expected the two sides to agree a settlement if the registrar decided Leiman's action could proceed. 'It's unlikely Richard would want the case to go to trial,' said one source.
Any trial could shine the spotlight on management operations at one of Asia's largest commodity groups, revealing management succession issues that could be similar to those faced by family businesses founded by Asian tycoons.
