Turns out to be a big Wall Street story:
When First Brands, an auto-parts maker, filed for bankruptcy late last month, it was not the sort of event that would typically draw attention in the world's financial capitals.A midsize manufacturer of pumps, filters and other under-the-hood products sold at retailers like AutoZone and Walmart, the company had expanded in recent years and had, it would appear, simply grown too quickly.
But now, the company is at the center of swirling milieu on Wall Street and beyond over the loans that fueled its rise and the questionable accounting, some of its creditors say, that preceded the fall.
Some well-known firms in international finance have been swept up in the fallout from company’s collapse, in some combination of losses, finger-pointing and embarrassment at having missed the signs of danger. That group includes Jefferies, the New York investment bank that arranged much of First Brands’ financing; UBS, the Swiss bank that provided a big chunk of the money; and BlackRock, which funneled money to an intermediary that lent it to the company.
The total losses are expected to tally into the billions of dollars, according to Texas bankruptcy court filings and people involved in the negotiations over what comes next.
This week, a representative of one of the company’s creditors said in a court filing that as much as $2.3 billion of assets had “simply vanished.”…
Questions now turn to whether other auto-parts companies may also face troubles.
First Brands’ trouble “leads me to believe there are other suppliers that may also be at risk,” Erin Keating, executive analyst at ■■■ Automotive, said Friday.
https://archive.is/GsWAs if you can’t read the original. The censored word is the name ‘C o x’ - har!