Jones Day's London office has completed a controversial restructuring of car part manufacturer Dana's UK pension liabilities.

The restructuring was agreed last month with the liabilities understood to be worth a nine-figure sum.

UK head of restructuring Adam Plainer led a 30-lawyer team from Jones Day's London arm which also included employee benefits partner John Papadakis, corporate partner John Phillips and employment partner Mark Taylor.

Dana UK's parent company, Dana Corporation, entered into Chapter 11 in the US last year in what remain the largest Chapter 11 proceedings since the start of 2006.The firm is also handling ongoing proceedings for Dana worldwide with New York restructuring partner Corinne Ball leading.

The UK pension agreement saw the scheme's four creditors settle a substantial portion of their liabilities in exchange for a one-off cash settlement and a transfer of a portion of equity in the business. The liabilities were transferred to a new special purpose company with the structure intended to preserve jobs and allow planned sales of non-core UK businesses to go ahead.

With workers' pensions at stake, the deal required the agreement of the pension scheme trustees, the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund as well as discussions with unions.

Herbert Smith, Eversheds, Hammonds and Wragge & Co acted for the four pension schemes with Herbert Smith finance partner Laurence Elliott coordinating agreements. Denton Wilde Sapte head of reconstruction and insolvency Mark Andrews acted for the Pension Protection Fund while Memery Crystal acted for the Dana UK directors and Berwin Leighton Paisner acted for the US creditors.

Plainer told Legal Week: "The UK had these huge pensions liabilities and with four different pension schemes I do not think there has been a restructuring as complex. It is likely to become a standard; as troubled companies may need to deal with their pension liabilities without further damage to their business."

Jones Day's UK office now has 10 lawyers focusing purely on restructuring, including new senior associate Paul Bromfield, who is joining in July from Linklaters.

According to reports in the US, the Dana restructuring generated fees for advisers of $26m (£13m) over just four months this year with Jones Day reportedly charging Dana roughly that figure in fees and expenses since the case began.