US auto task force appoints bankruptcy attorney

14 March 2009

The Obama administration's auto task force has appointed Matthew Feldman, an eminent bankruptcy attorney from the bankruptcy and restructuring firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher to join them and advise the team on reorganising the automobile industry.

Feldman has been selected to join the auto team at the treasury department advising treasury secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Lawrence H. Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, on reorganisation efforts by the automobile manufacturers and their suppliers.

Feldman is one of the country's preeminent bankruptcy attorneys and he will leave the firm by the end of March to start in his new position in Washington and join with the other consulting bankruptcy and restructuring law firms Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, who had been appointed earlier by the task force team.

The auto task force team said that by hiring Feldman, the forces team will not alter its approach in restructuring the auto industry as his expertise will be required to analyze restructuring options along with the output of other team members.

Ailing Detroit automakers, General Motors Corporation and Chrysler received $13.4 billion and $4 billion respectively from the US government in January in order to save them from an imminent collapse. (See: General Motors gets $4 billion US government loan, Chrysler still in talks / Chrysler receives $4 billion from US treasury)

The loans were given to Chrysler and GM subject to both submitting restructuring plans to the government by mid-February and demonstrate that they are viable by end-March and able to repay the loans.