Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
href='mailto:jhartgen@abiworld.org'>jhartgen@abiworld.org
BANKRUPTCY
PROFESSIONALS PAN OBAMA ADMINISTRATION APPROACH IN CHRYSLER BANKRUPTCY,
ACCORDING TO LATEST ABI QUICK POLL
May 27, 2009,
Alexandria, Va. — An overwhelming
majority of respondents (80 percent) in a recent ABI Quick Poll believe
that the Obama administration took the wrong approach in engineering the
Chrysler bankruptcy, including dictating the terms of who will own the
new entity and how much bondholders will be paid. Seventy-six percent
“disagreed strongly” and 4 percent “somewhat
disagreed” that the Obama administration took the correct approach
in Chrysler’s bankruptcy.
President Obama announced a
“surgical bankruptcy” for Chrysler on April 30 that the
administration said could be completed in 30 to 60 days so it could
pursue a lifesaving alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat. The
administration-engineered chapter 11 plan allows the United Automobile
Workers, through their retirement plan, to take control of Chrysler,
with Fiat and the United States as junior partners. Under the terms of
Chrysler’s reorganization plan, secured lenders would receive
about 29 cents on the dollar in cash. These lenders had objected to
having to take such a discount, despite holding first-lien debt, but
agreed to the plan after sharp criticism from the White
House.
Sixteen percent of respondents
agreed that the Obama administration took the correct approach in
actively engineering the Chrysler bankruptcy. Eleven percent
“agreed strongly” and 5 percent “somewhat
agreed” that the administration had taken
correct steps in the Chrysler bankruptcy. One
percent of respondents did not know or had no opinion on the issue.
Nearly 200 people responded to the online poll.
ABI members and members of the public
were welcome to submit their response to the statement: “The Obama
administration took the correct approach in actively engineering the
Chrysler bankruptcy, including dictating the terms of who will own the
new entity and how much bondholders will be paid.”
ABI’s Quick Poll is posted on
ABI’s home page,
face='Calibri' size='3'>www.abiworld.org
size='3'>. ABI members and the public are invited to respond to a
question on a timely bankruptcy or insolvency issue. Visit
href='http://www.abiworld.net/quickpoll/'>
color='#0000ff' size='3'>http://www.abiworld.net/quickpoll/
to access the results of previous ABI
Quick Polls.
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related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and
the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI
membership includes nearly 12,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers,
judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy
professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and
information. For additional information on ABI, visit
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