Word: rattner
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...Steve Rattner had never focused on the auto industry before. So yes, he was an odd choice to be a special adviser to the Treasury Department on its dealings with Detroit car manufacturers. And even though he was known mostly for his work as a journalist and as an investor in various media companies, Rattner got right to work, reportedly helping to engineer the ouster of General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner just weeks after joining the Administration...
...White House's auto-task-force working group is headed by Steve Rattner, a former reporter who was head of the private-equity firm Quadrangle Group, and Ron Bloom, an investment banker who previously worked for the United Steelworkers union. Staffed by about 15 restructuring and other experts, the task force aims to do two things in the weeks ahead. First, it will try to close the deal on Chrysler's sale to Fiat. Sources familiar with the task force's approach describe Chrysler as "hollowed out" by a succession of owners and largely worthless, with no quality brands other...
...Whatever their goals, the two men are well positioned to restructure the auto industry. Rattner can tell management and bondholders what they have to live with. Over the course of the past three months, he has come to believe that the bondholders, who have thus far balked at taking GM stock for much of their debt, made a bad investment and should lose all their money, says one person familiar with the President's auto task force. Rattner also took the point in ousting GM chief Rick Wagoner over the weekend. Bloom, for his part, has taken...
...Although analysts credit the odd couple for playing tough with all sides, Rattner and Bloom's initial efforts are meeting with only moderate success. The stock market reacted negatively to the government's plan on Monday, with the S&P 500 dropping nearly 3.5% on fears that bankruptcy was inevitable for GM and Chrysler - a fear that the Administration did little to calm. President Obama, in his speech announcing the deal on Monday, tried to put a good face on things, laying out measures to save the companies, soften the blow to autoworkers and encourage auto sales with guaranteed warranties...
...real test of Rattner and Bloom's collaboration is upcoming. Obama, in putting new conditions on any more billions being handed to Detroit, gave Chrysler 30 days to strike a partnership with Fiat and GM 60 days to avoid bankruptcy court. Rattner will have to browbeat intransigent bondholders. Bloom will have to force major benefit cuts on the unions. And both will have to sell management on a radical reordering of their companies, one in which both capital and labor take a serious hit in order to keep the machine running...