Here’s a brand portfolio question: First Brands Group, the global automotive aftermarket company with a portfolio of leading brands in products used to maintain and repair cars and trucks has collapsed into bankruptcy amid allegations of multibillion-dollar fraud. Is its portfolio worth anything?
It has brands such as FRAM, Autolite, Raybestos, TRICO and ANCO, well-known in professional and amateur car mechanic circles. Their future is now uncertain.
The First Brands situation raises critical brand portfolio questions:
- What happens to a brand portfolio when the company behind it is accused of fraud?
- Do the brands become toxic along with the company?
- Will these brands just disappear when the company files for bankruptcy? Or can other companies buy the brands and give them a second life?
- What is the value of the brands in the portfolio? What makes any brand worth saving?
- What is the best way to save such brands?
A brand can survive bankruptcy. It can survive a change in ownership. But surviving a corporate fraud is more complicated. The outcome depends on how much value exists in the brand itself and how much damage the scandal has done to that value.
The First Brands collapse into bankruptcy and fraud
First Brands Group is a case study in a dramatic unraveling. After filing for bankruptcy in September of 2025, things went from bad to worse. The Department of Justice had been running a years-long fraud investigation dating back to 2018. In the midst of the bankruptcy proceedings, the bankruptcy judge ordered an independent investigation into fraud allegations, and in January 2026, the Department of Justice unsealed the indictments and arrested charged First Brands founder and former CEO Patrick James, his brother, former SVP Edward James. Former VP of Finance Peter Andrew Brumbergs was also charged and has already pleaded guilty.
First Brands Group grew extraordinarily fast through 15 acquisitions of more than 25 brands. The strategy was: buy more companies, borrow more money, combine them, generate more EBITDA, and borrow still more. This created a massively overleveraged business because cash flow didn’t grow as fast as debt. A lot of the borrowing didn’t appear on the balance sheet.
At the time of the bankruptcy, the company reported $5 billion in annual sales, but had more than $9 billion in debt, and only $12 million in cash in the bank. 26,000 employees were laid off. Well-known brands like FRAM, Autolite, Raybestos, TRICO, and Carter were pulled off the shelves, sending mechanics and do-it-yourself backyard wrench-turners scrambling.
Earlier this month, Chapter 11 restructuring proposals were rejected, and the judge ordered the company into liquidation, due to the fact that it had accumulated $2B more liabilities during the bankruptcy process.
The allegations of fraud and the bankruptcy put a collection of familiar brands in an unusual position. The brands had not filed for bankruptcy. The brands had not committed fraud. But they belonged to a company that had collapsed under the weight of alleged financial misconduct. Now what?
Can the brands in the First Brands portfolio be saved?
Not every brand caught in a corporate scandal deserves a rescue. A potential buyer needs to determine whether any brand still has enough equity to justify the investment required to rebuild the business. Sifting through the First Brands portfolio is a process that starts with building a brand valuation model to apply across the brand portfolio. M&A decisions require both an assessment of a brand’s current condition and a clear understanding of what it will take to bring it back:
- Customer and user awareness. A familiar brand has an enormous advantage over a new one. It already has recognition, distribution and years of accumulated awareness. FRAM, for example, has been in the filtration business since the 1930s and has a long history in the automotive aftermarket.
- Brand associations. Awareness alone is not enough. What do people think when they hear the brand name? If they associate it with quality, value, reliability or performance, the brand may be worth saving. If they primarily associate it with fraud, bankruptcy or poor product quality, the challenge becomes much greater.
- Association with the scandal. Customers may not even know who owns a brand. That can protect it. A highly visible corporate scandal can do the opposite. If news coverage repeatedly puts the brand name alongside allegations of fraud, the association can become difficult to break.
- Product performance. A strong product gives a new owner something to build on. If customers already believe the product works, the new owner can focus on restoring availability and confidence. If quality problems existed before the bankruptcy, the new owner may need to fix the product before trying to rebuild the brand.
- Customer loyalty. Repeat purchases and long-standing relationships with consumers, mechanics, retailers and distributors create value that a new brand would have to spend years developing.
- Distribution strength. A brand that still has shelf space, retailer relationships, distributor agreements and established channels is more valuable than one that has effectively disappeared from the market.
- Competitive pressure. Competitors do not wait for a troubled brand to recover. They can use supply disruptions, negative publicity and uncertainty to win customers permanently. A buyer needs to know how much market share competitors have already captured.
- Category growth. A famous brand in a shrinking category may have limited value. A brand in a stable or growing category gives an acquirer more room to invest and grow.
- Ability to separate the brand from the former owner. The stronger the distinction between the brand and the failed company, the easier the recovery may be. A brand known primarily as a product, rather than as an extension of its corporate parent, has an important advantage.
- Cost of rebuilding. Finally, the acquirer has to compare the cost of restoring the brand with the cost of creating a new brand. Sometimes buying a damaged brand is still cheaper than building awareness, distribution and customer relationships from scratch.
Which brands in the First Brands portfolio have the most value?
The first factor an acquirer must consider is the value of each of these brands. First Brands had more than 25 brands in its portfolio, which include licensed brands.
Some brands have already been sold off. Premium Guard acquired 12 brands for a fire sale price pf $25 million, including FRAM, Autolite, TRICO, ANCO, LuberFiner and StrongArm. The deal closed in April 2026. It will now have to start the process of valuing each brand, identifying strategic value drivers, and putting in place a rebuild strategy. In June 2026, Motorcar Parts of America bought the Centric Parts and StopTech brands and FrictionOne bought Raybestos.
Are they worth paying for? And if so, how much? Fire sale prices or premium? Some may be and some maybe not. Without doing the work, you cannot know. Here are some quick observations about some of them:
FRAM is probably the strongest consumer brand in the group with sales of over $500 million. It has decades of awareness, broad retail distribution and a recognizable position in automotive filtration. It also has an established customer base and extensive product coverage. FRAM has faced criticism of some product quality perceptions, giving a new owner an opportunity to address those concerns while preserving the brand’s recognition.
TRICO and ANCO also have meaningful brand equity. Both have long histories in windshield wipers, a category where consumers and professional installers often rely on familiar names. They may not have FRAM’s consumer recognition, but their category expertise and established distribution relationships give them a solid foundation.
Autolite is a different story. It is a historic name in spark plugs, but First Brands began winding down the North American Autolite business in January 2026 after failing to secure financing or find a buyer to keep the operation running. That makes the brand more dependent on whether a new owner can restore product availability and distribution.
LuberFiner has particular value in heavy-duty and commercial filtration. It has less consumer awareness than FRAM, but strong relevance among professional customers, fleets and distributors. Its future will depend largely on maintaining those relationships and restoring reliable product availability.
StrongArm, MightyLift and AVM have more specialized value in lift-support products. Their equity comes primarily from product knowledge, distributor relationships and professional customers rather than broad consumer awareness. They could be attractive additions to an existing automotive parts business with established distribution.
Raybestos is one of the strongest brands in the First Brands brake portfolio. It has more than a century of history and strong recognition among professional installers and distributors. Its reputation for quality and reliability is especially valuable in a safety-sensitive category. The challenge is that First Brands’ brake operations shut down, giving competitors an opportunity to capture customers and distribution.
CARDONE has strong recognition among professional automotive repair shops, although less among consumers. Its technical reputation, extensive product catalog and relationships with repair shops and distributors give it a solid base. But remanufacturing requires specialized facilities and expertise. First Brands shut down its North American CARDONE operations in January 2026, making its future dependent on rebuilding the business behind the brand.
Centric Parts has substantial value in the professional brake market. Consumers may not recognize the name as readily as Raybestos, but professional installers know it well. Its product catalog and engineering expertise add to its appeal. The sale to Motorcar Parts of America gives the brand an opportunity to rebuild under new ownership.
StopTech is a smaller but distinctive brand built around high-performance braking systems for street-performance, track and racing applications. That gives it a loyal customer base. Its future will depend on preserving its reputation among performance enthusiasts.
Carter has a long history in fuel pumps and other vehicle components, with most of its recognition among automotive professionals. Its technical expertise and established product lines give it a solid foundation, but the shift toward electric vehicles could reduce demand for traditional fuel-system components over time. Millions of gasoline-powered vehicles will remain on the road, giving Carter continued value in the aftermarket.
Reese may be one of the most attractive brands in the First Brands portfolio. It has strong recognition in towing and trailering, where safety and reliability matter. Reese also has meaningful consumer awareness and established distribution. Because its business continued operating while First Brands wound down other North American units, a buyer could potentially acquire a functioning business rather than rebuild the brand from scratch.
Buying brand value, not brand names
Buying First Brand portfolio brands following the fraud and bankruptcy means buying more than a brand name. Buyers will need to invest in building brand value. The impact of the bankruptcy and fraud on the products’ brand value needs to be determined.
The key steps to take include:
- Assess current brand value. What is strong, what is weak, and what is fixable?
- Run brand value scenarios to determine what it will take to fix the brand issues, from addressing product performance issues to rebuilding broken distribution channels.
- Execute on a strategy that addresses weaknesses on the key drivers of purchase and brand value
- Don’t neglect employee branding—the bankruptcy and layoffs affect hiring, productivity, and quality.
- Measure results and continue to refine the brand and business strategy.
Can brands in the First Brands brand portfolio survive?
The answer appears to be yes for at least some of the portfolio. The key will be understanding current brand value, what will drive value in the future, and finally where to invest and what strategies to pursue. The company may be gone. But its brands don’t have to be.