(Adds financial details)
By David Sheppard and Jonathan Leff
LONDON/NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Asian commodity traderNoble Group Ltd has joined forces with U.S.private-equity firm EIG Global Energy Partners to launch a newventure aiming to snap up $2 billion in global energy assets.
Harbour Energy Ltd will be helmed by former top Royal DutchShell Plc executive Linda Cook, the companies said,with EIG and the new firm's management team overseeing cashraising and acquisitions, with Noble responsible for marketingand logistics.
The move comes as Noble refocuses its business on commoditytrading, while many energy majors are shedding once-prizedassets to help streamline their operations and return cash toshareholders.
"This transaction represents a significant milestone in thecontinued implementation of Noble's 'asset light' strategy...while partnering with market-leading asset managers and owners,"Noble Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Alireza said.
Cook, 56, spent 29 years with Royal Dutch Shell and was oncetipped as a future CEO of the firm, before losing out in aleadership battle with then CFO Peter Voser in 2009.
She was widely credited with building up Shell's natural gasbusiness, a top business at the oil and gas major.
"She is an extraordinarily accomplished senior executivewith deep operating and management expertise across all facetsof the global energy industry," R. Blair Thomas, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of EIG said.
Harbour Energy will initially be seeded with $150 millionfrom Noble and $50 million from EIG, according to a personfamiliar with the matter.
It aims to raise $2 billion eventually from large investorsto buy energy-related projects.
Singapore-listed Noble is one of the world's largestcommodity traders, growing rapidly from its Hong Kong roots topost revenues of almost $100 billion last year from trading morethan 230 million tonnes of energy and agricultural commodities.
Noble has signed two similar ventures in the past yearcovering mining and the agricultural sector.
Last September Noble and private-equity group TPG invested$500 million in a mining-related investment venture called X2Resources led by Mick Davis, the former head of Xstrata.
In April, COFCO Corp, China's largest grain trader, agreedto pay $1.5 billion for a majority stake in Noble's agribusiness.
Washington-based EIG had more than $15 billion undermanagement as of March, the company said, with 290energy-related investments over its 32-year history.
Harbour Energy's initial capitalization will be fundedsolely through the balance sheet of Noble and EIG, the companiessaid in a statement. (Reporting by David Sheppard in London and Jonathan Leff in NewYork; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jason Neely)
