GM to acquire AmeriCredit

General Motors this morning announced it will acquire Fort Worth, Texas-based AmeriCredit Corp in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.9 billion. The deal is expected to become final in the fourth quarter of this year.

GM plans to make AmeriCredit the core of a new captive finance operation. GM has been using AmeriCredit instead of Ally (formerly GMAC) for sub-prime lending. In the announcement, Chris Liddell, GM’s CFO, indicated the automaker would still be using Ally for prime lending and dealer floorplans. AmeriCredit has some 800,000 customers and $9 billion in automotive receivables.

“With AmeriCredit providing us niche capabilities in leasing and non-prime financing, along with the continued strong support of Ally Financial and others for prime retail and dealer financing, we’ve set up a very competitive solution for our financing needs, which will be resilient through credit and business cycles,” Liddell said.

Under the terms of the deal, AmeriCredit stockholders will receive a cash payment of $24.50 for each share they own. This morning, AmeriCredit shares were trading on the NYSE at $24.11 after opening at $20.46. The 52-week high has been $26.49 and the low was $13.94.

AmeriCredit’s management team, including CEO Daniel Berce, will remain with the company, assisting in what GM terms “minimizing integration risk and maximizing opportunities between the two companies.” There was no word on if there will be staff cuts (count on it) or how big they might be. AmeriCredit currently has about 3,000 employees in North America.