President Barack Obama’s auto industry task force has recruited a bankruptcy lawyer who worked on suppplier Dana’s chapter 11 restructuring.
Matthew Feldman is a partner in the business reorganiation and restructuring department at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the New York law firm said in a statement.
He will advise US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers on reorganising automakers and suppliers, the statement added.
He leaves the firm by the end of March to start his position in Washington, the law firm said.
Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher’s website said Feldman had been “significantly involved in numerous complex chapter 11 cases and non-judicial restructurings”.
He recently represented investors that bid for assets in chapter 11 cases including auto supplier Dana Corporation, the firm added.
A US Treasury official confirmed Feldman s hiring to Reuters, saying this would not change the task force’s approach to restructuring the auto industry. He would work to help analyse restructuring options with the rest of the teams, the official said.
The news agency noted that the US government had also been working with bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers at law firms Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, as well as turnaround specialists at investment bank Rothschild. Those advisors had been working with officials on the taxpayer-backed restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler.
General Motors shares fell almost 12% in after hours electronic trading after the news, Reuters added.
Members of the administration s task force toured GM and Chrysler facilities in the Detroit area last week, checking new technology and meeting with company executives, the report noted.
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