Molycorp creditors committee looks to hire counsel, financial adviser

By Caroline Salls

Pittsburgh, July 31 – Molycorp, Inc.’s official committee of unsecured creditors requested court approval to hire Paul Hastings LLP as counsel, Ashby & Geddes, PA as co-counsel and Berkeley Research Group, LLC as financial adviser, according to motions filed Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

If approved, the Paul Hastings and Berkeley hirings would be retroactive to July 8 and the Ashby & Geddes hiring to July 9.

Ashby & Geddes will serve as the committee’s local counsel in connection with the Molycorp case. The committee said it believes that Ashby & Geddes’ retention as co-counsel and ability to appear before the court for applications, motions and other matters “will be efficient and cost-effective.”

Hourly rates for the Paul Hastings attorneys and paralegals designated to represent the committee range from $350 per hour to $1,200 per hour, and the hourly rates for principal Ashby & Geddes attorneys and paralegals designated to represent the committee range from $195 per hour to $585 per hour.

Meanwhile, Berkeley has agreed to a 10% discount on its hourly rates, which range from $120 per hour to $895 per hour.

Hearings on the retention motions are scheduled for Aug. 17.

Molycorp is a Greenwood Village, Colo., producer of materials from rare earth minerals that filed for bankruptcy on June 25. The Chapter 11 case number is 15-11357.

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