First Brands Group Lenders Provide Lifeline to ‘A Black Box’

First Brands Group lenders burned by the auto parts supplier’s use of off-balance-sheet financing quickly assembled a $1.1 billion emergency lifeline to prevent the business from completely unraveling. But to pull it off, according to their lawyer, the firms had to forgo the level of diligence they’d normally demand for such a big loan.

The rush to put First Brands into Chapter 11 and save the business from collapsing transpired in less than a month, the twists and turns of which were relayed publicly for the first time Wednesday by lawyers in a Texas bankruptcy court. The cash injection is part of a $4.4 billion financing that began with an alarming Sept. 4 phone call to lenders and concluded with the judge signing off on emergency funding to save the business.