Fifth Largest C&I Retail Supplier In U.S. (8 GW) Put Up For Sale

Noble Group announced that it will soon begin a sale process for its Noble Americas Energy Solutions business.

In an annual report released in March 2016, Noble described Noble Americas Energy Solutions as serving approximately 8,000 MW peak load, across 1,300 consumer clients with over 100,000 meters. An April 2016 presentation from Noble described Noble Americas Energy Solutions as providing over 50,000 mmbtu of natural gas delivered per day

Noble Americas Energy Solutions provides retail electricity in what is described as all 19 deregulated states in the U.S. and natural gas in the Western US, primarily California and Nevada.

With its size, the Noble Americas Energy Solutions business represent a good opportunity for a retail supplier focused on the mass market to diversify its business and instantly become a major player in the C&I space, or for a new entrant or recent start-up to do likewise.

Citing recent transactions in the retail energy space, Noble Group had in August 2015 said that such transactions indicated a valuation of Noble Americas Energy Solutions "well in excess of" $1.25 billion.

Noble Group has also said that Noble Americas Energy Solutions has achieved average pre-tax profit of $174 million per year over the past three years

Regarding the sale of Noble Americas Energy Solutions, Noble said that, "it will shortly be starting the sale process for Noble Americas Energy Solutions, a transaction which is expected to generate both significant cash proceeds and profits to substantially enhance the balance sheet."

The sale comes as Noble Group has faced liquidity issues and weak market for its broader commodity business lines

Noble Group also announced the resignation of its CEO, Yusuf Alireza, and named William Randall and Jeff Frase as Co-Chief Executive Officers.

Randall, based in Hong Kong, is currently President of Noble Group and an Executive Director and will retain his Board Seat. Frase, based in Stamford, Connecticut is currently President, Noble Americas and Head of Oil Liquids and will be invited to join the Board.

Noble Americas Energy Solutions, with 210 employees, is headquartered in San Diego with regional offices in Boston, Michigan, Chicago, New Jersey and Houston

Noble's 2015 annual report, citing DNV GL data, said that it is the fifth largest commercial and industrial retail marketer in the U.S.