First Brands’ Implosion Rips Through Private Credit: $2.3 B Disappears, Wall Street Scrambles
In hindsight, red flags were mounting at First Brands Group well before its spectacular implosion. The Ohio-based auto-parts supplier had become an industry heavyweight by gobbling up rivals with debt-fueled acquisitions, amassing an enormous debt load in the processreuters.com. By mid-2025, the company’s finances were growing increasingly murky: in August, First Brands abruptly halted a $6 billion refinancing deal after lenders demanded independent audits of its booksts2.tech. Rumors swirled of large off-the-books loans, late supplier payments, and frustrated investors asking to see invoices backing their loans. Yet few outsiders grasped the full picture of the trouble lurking on First Brands’ balance sheetbloomberg.com.