As the financial and economic crisis exacts a rising toll on the profitability of corporate America, growing numbers of companies are eagerly looking for help in restructuring their finances. Just ask David Resnick, head of global restructuring at investment bank N M Rothschild & Sons.
His clients include auto-parts maker Delphi Corp., of Troy, Michigan, which has been in bankruptcy for four years, as well as Salt Lake City–based chemicals company Huntsman Corp., which has been struggling to regain its footing since the failure of a buyout offer last year. Resnick, 49, also is co-chief of investment banking for London-based Rothschild. Members of his team are advising the U.S. Treasury on hot, politically sensitive cases, including its evaluation of restructuring proposals for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, as well as the Treasury’s $5 billion rescue of the auto-parts industry.
His handling of difficult situations has earned Resnick, who is based in New York, the admiration of clients and rivals. For example, in late 2005 he persuaded feuding union and company officials at Delphi, a former GM subsidiary that still receives pension funding from its onetime parent, to agree on a cost-cutting maneuver in which 13,800 employees elected to retire or take a buyout. Harvey Miller, a lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges who advised GM during the buyout talks, likens Resnick’s diplomatic skills to the deft touch of Henry Kissinger in helping to reopen ties between the U.S. and China in the early 1970s. Says John Sheehan, chief financial officer of Delphi: "David was able to calmly think through the highly contentious situation and clearly articulate solutions for the transition from where we were to where we wanted to be. If I were to....