First Brands to Close Spark Plug, Brakes Units Amid Cash Crunch

Bankrupt auto-parts maker First Brands Group will shut down three more of its businesses, including its brakes and spark-plug factories, amid an ongoing cash crunch, the company said in a court filing.

The company will continue to try to sell other operations while under court protection, but “liquidity challenges have forced them to commence a wind down” of spark-plug maker Autolite Operations, various brakes units and Hopkins Manufacturing Corp, which makes car-cleaning products.

First Brands has been trying to sell its last remaining parts-making factories after new managers uncovered widespread fraud and lenders refused to put up enough cash ...