RPT-NEWSMAKER-Noble founder Elman turns scrap into gold

(Repeats a story first published on Sunday)

Tom Miles and Nao Nakanishi

HONG KONG, April 27 (Reuters) - In an office full of modern Chinese paintings overlooking Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour, Richard Elman, founder and head of Asia's largest commodities supplier Noble Group (NOBG.SI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), says he has been lucky.

Elman, who began his career in a scrap yard in England at the age of 15, is among the few non-Chinese listed by Forbes magazine as the wealthiest in town.

"I've just been lucky...being in the right place at the right time," Elman said, adding he has always believed in fate.

Noble, which he set up 21 years ago with his savings of $100,000, is capitalised at around $4.8 billion.

It supplies raw materials from coal, iron ore to coffee, chartering more than 100 ships at any given time. Its assets stretch from iron ore reserves in Brazil and ports in Argentina, to coal mines in Indonesia and soy crushers in China.

Fuelled by surging demand from Asian countries such as China and India, Noble's net profit spiralled to $258 million by 2007, rising more than 10-fold since 2000.

"I never had any great ambition. I did it for fun, because I enjoyed it, and to make a living. That's what I still do," he told Reuters on Friday, sipping his tea, relaxed in an open white shirt with beige Chinese bead bracelets dangling from his arm.