GM to File Bankruptcy at 8AM, Name Interim Chief

General Motors will appoint Al Koch as chief restructuring officer when the company files for bankruptcy tomorrow at 8am, the Wall Street Journal reports. A managing director at an advisory firm, 67-year-old Koch has attended GM management meetings for months and helped negotiate pre-bankruptcy deals with shareholders and lenders. He is expected to wind down the "old GM" as a new one emerges from bankruptcy court.

Koch has experience with corporate bankruptcies, having served as interim CFO of Kmart when it sought Chapter 11 protection in 2002 and emerged a year later. He also chaired Champion Enterprises when the manufactured-home builder avoided a bankruptcy filing. Koch "seems like a solid guy with excellent industry experience," one analyst said. "And he works for a top firm, so … he'll have good support." (More General Motors stories.)