Governor Rosselló appoints members to the Board of Trustees of the GDB Debt Recovery Authority
(February 6, 2018 – La Fortaleza, San Juan) The governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, announced the appointment of the three members of the Board of Trustees of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico Debt Recovery Authority, created under Act 109-2017, known as the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico Debt Restructuring Act.
The trustees appointed by the governor are David Pauker, Jorge L. Padilla, and Matthew Karp.
“I am thankful to David, Matthew, and Jorge for making themselves available to assume the trustee positions of the newly created Recovery Authority in this historical moment for Puerto Rico. I appreciate and thank them for taking on the responsibilities involved in serving in positions of this nature,” expressed the chief executive.
The governor added that “there is no doubt in my mind that their commitment and knowledge will help accomplish an orderly and successful transition that will benefit all stakeholders.”
For his part, the president of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico (GDB), Christian Sobrino, expressed that “the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico Debt Restructuring Act represented an important step towards an orderly resolution of the GDB while maximizing recovery opportunities for the municipalities, the credit unions (known in Spanish as cooperativas), the local bondholders, and other creditors of the Bank.”
Sobrino added that “these appointments are another step forward in the GDB restructuring process.”
Pauker is an expert in business restructuring and turnaround with over 25 years of experience in different industries. He is a member of the American College of Bankruptcy and is currently a member of the Boards of Directors of Lehman Brothers Holdings, ResCap Litigation Trust, and Terraform Power.
He holds a Juris Doctor from the School of Law of Columbia University in New York. Pauker is an active member of the Board of Directors of Social Accountability International (SAI), a global nonprofit entity that seeks to advance the rights of workers.
Furthermore, Pauker is also a member of the Strategic Planning Committee of Villages in Partnership, an entity that provides development assistance and aide in remote areas in Malawi.
Padilla is a retired executive of Universal Group, Inc., where he served for 29 years. During his career at Universal, he held several executive positions, the last one being senior vice president and chief financial officer of Universal Group, Inc. and president of Universal Finance, Inc.
Padilla also served as director of several subsidiaries of Universal Group. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Atlas US Income Tactical Fund, LLC, an investment fund headquartered in Puerto Rico.
Finally, Karp is an executive of Amstar Group, LLC. He is the head of U.S. Transactions. Amstar is a private company established over 30 years ago to manage investments in real estate; it manages $1.4 billion in assets.
Prior to working with Amstar, Karp held positions with TriSpan, LLP, CPG Real Estate (Puerto Rico) and Cerberus Capital Management. He has worked in real property acquisition and revitalization in Puerto Rico since the early 2000s.
The Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico Debt Restructuring Act established the local legal framework for the restructuring of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico under Title VI of the PROMESA Act and the Restructuring Support Agreement executed with the creditors.
The Recovery Authority was created as a statutory public trust and a governmental public instrumentality, independent and separate from any other government entity (including the GDB).
The Recovery Authority is created for the purpose of (i) issuing the Restructuring Bonds, pursuant to the restructuring agreement with the GDB creditors and (ii) managing the restructuring property that will be transferred from the GDB to the Recovery Authority.
