* China's CIC buys 14.5 pct stake in Noble for $850 mln
* Latest in flurry of Chinese investments in resources
* Shares priced at 8 pct discount to last traded price
* Deal gives Noble cash for acquisitions - analysts (Updates with analyst quotes)
By Neil Chatterjee
SINGAPORE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - China Investment Corp, a $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, has bought a 14.5 percent stake in trading firm Noble Group for $850 million, giving China greater exposure to global commodities and trading expertise.
The deal follows a cooperation pact between CIC and commodity trader Glencore, as China pursues resource firms to give it leverage in opaque global markets and access to the raw materials needed to feed its economy.
"A lot of sovereign wealth funds or state-linked firms are increasingly showing interest in resources, so this is in line with the trend," said analyst Lee Wen Ching of OCBC Securities in Singapore. "Noble provides access to a diversified portfolio."
Noble, with interests from Brazilian sugar to Australian coal, is the only major global commodity trading house with a public listing, compared to privately-held but bigger rivals such as Glencore, in which sources have said CIC has concluded a cooperation agreement.
CIC's small, direct stake in Noble means the wealth fund is likely to play a hands-off role in running the business, while maintaining a role as financial investor. But the pact with Glencore will help CIC get more deeply into commodities trading, industry experts and analysts say.
Noble agreed to sell 573 million shares to CIC at S$2.1137 each, or an 8 percent discount to its last traded price.
"You have Noble trading close to an all-time high. I'm sure CIC came in and said 'if you want to give us a big stake, you would need to give a discount'," said Andreas Bokkenheuser, UBS analyst in Singapore, who has a "buy" rating on Noble.
"What CIC is doing effectively is buying into the traders of commodities, and producers of commodities."
Sovereign wealth funds around the world, which oversee about $3 trillion in assets, are stepping up their investments in overseas firms after a period of redeploying funds to stabilise home markets during the financial crisis.
Singapore state investor Temasek recently bought stakes in commodity firm Olam and Brazil oil services firm San Antonio.
Shares in Noble, which were halted from trading last week when the group said it was in talks with an unidentified investor for a major stake, have more than doubled this year, beating the benchmark Singapore index, which is up by half.
EYES AGRICULTURE, SUCCESSION
For Noble, which in May bought Australia's Gloucester Coal for about $430 million and in August picked up $65 million of U.S. fuel terminal and storage assets, analysts said the deal could mean firepower for further acquisitions.
"The discount is not steep -- the placement will definitely strengthen Noble's capitalisation," said OCBC's Lee, who also rates Noble a "buy" with a S$2.50 target price.
"Some of it could also be used for acquisitions -- there could be more distressed assets brought about by the financial crisis."
The placement consists of 438 million newly issued shares by Singapore-listed Noble and 135 million shares from trusts associated with the interests of Noble's founder and CEO Richard Elman, Noble said in a statement.
The move was seen as succession planning for Elman, 69.
"Some perceive him as a God, he's not immortal," said analyst Chris Sanda at Daiwa Institute of Research in Singapore. "I have to imagine he'll be doing a slow motion retirement and moving away from the business, eventually.
"It's not going to happen overnight, but you see the wheels of change already happening. He's respectfully offloading many of the responsibilities to very capable lieutenants."
Noble said the deal did not reduce Elman's commitment.
Founded by Elman in 1987 with $100,000 in savings, Hong Kong-based Noble has expanded into a global empire that includes operations from sugar and ethanol in Brazil, soy crushing facilities in China and coal mines in Australia.
"The newly issued shares will provide the Noble Group with additional capital to pursue strategic investments in key agricultural markets globally," Noble said in the statement.
The placement is subject to approval by the Noble and CIC boards. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch acted as placement agent to Noble and JPMorgan advised CIC. (Additional reporting by George Chen and Joseph Chaney in HONG KONG and Saeed Azhar in SINGAPORE; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)