Noble (N21.SG) is down 0.5% at $2.06, unmoved by a Brazilian media report that Noble will buy 2 mills from Grupo Cerradinho for around US$941 million ($1.2 billion).

“There isn’t much of a reaction in the market due to a few reasons. The valuation isn’t out, and without that it’s all just an abstract thing. But my view is that the chances of it being earnings accretive are quite high,” says an analyst at a local brokerage.

Assuming that Noble would be borrowing at 4.0%, he says they would need to buy the mills at 20x P/E for it to be earnings accretive, “if you buy something at 20x P/E, your earnings yield is about 5.0%, if they borrow at 4.0% they will make 1.0%,” he says.

But adds, without an announcement from Noble, details on funding and the potential hurdle of Cerradinho board approval, there’s little for the market to go on.