Name Craig Noell | ||
Craig Forrest Noell (born July 21, 1962) is an American businessman. Along with Kyle C. Ross, Noell is the co-founder of Signature Group Holdings, LLC, a special situations investment firm. He was formerly an executive of Goldman Sachs, where he was responsible for forming the Credit Partners business unit, now known as Goldman Sachs Specialty Lending. Under Noell's direction, Signature Group Holdings, LLC became an unsolicited plan proponent in the bankruptcy reorganization of Fremont General, Inc. Fremont General had been a NYSE publicly traded company with over $9 billion in assets as of December 31, 2007. The Signature Plan was later supported by James A. McIntyre, the founder and largest shareholder of Fremont, as well as by the two largest bondholders. Notwithstanding, the Signature Plan was opposed by the Official Equityholders Committee and a 9 month battle in bankruptcty that ultimately included six competing plans. The reorganized company was renamed Signature Group Holdings, Inc. and its shares trade publicly (OTC: "SGGH"). Noell retired in 2014 and lives in Westlake Village, California.