Production at Emporia’s Hopkins Manufacturing plant has been on hold during bankruptcy and criminal proceedings affecting its parent company, but that may be changing soon.
Manager Randy Hizar tells KVOE News an unspecified company has made a bid for Hopkins that has been approved. For now, the agreement is non-binding — because there are some unlisted details that must be finalized first — and there is currently no word on when those details will be hammered out and when production can resume.
Hopkins originated in 1953 and was a leader in aftermarket automotive parts, acquiring product lines and companies on a consistent basis for decades, even after it was purchased by Oncap in 2011. First Brands bought Hopkins in late 2023, going bankrupt this past September after reporting $12 million in cash for its corporate bank accounts along with over $9 billion in liabilities — despite reporting around $5 billion in net annual sales worldwide. First Brands founder Patrick James and his brother, Edward, a former First Brands executive, now face nearly 10 federal counts of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy as the First Brands bankruptcy process continues.
