FORT WORTH, Texas -

As was expected, AmeriCredit shareholders voted in favor of the company’s acquisition by General Motors.

Since more than the required 66.7 percent of AmeriCredit issued and outstanding shares voted in favor of the transaction, executives said the merger is now expected to close Friday, Oct. 1.

The votes were reported at a shareholder meeting held Wednesday at AmeriCredit headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas. The company noted representatives of IVS Associates tabulated the votes and acted as independent inspectors.

Once the deal is completed, AmeriCredit will be renamed GM Financial Co. GM announced that with the new lender subsidiary, it will launch a regional lease program for its dealers by the end of the first quarter of 2011.

"This acquisition allows GM to offer an enhanced range of solutions for our customers and dealers, and establishes an important strategic capability for GM," said Chris Liddell, GM vice chairman and chief financial officer. "The speed by which this transaction occurred is evidence of how we are running GM today. We identified an opportunity and moved quickly to provide solutions for customers and dealers."

Dan Berce, chief executive officer of the new GM Financial, added, "While the name is changing, our commitment to our customers and dealers remains paramount. We are excited to become a member of the GM family and look forward to the new opportunities this provides us."

Officials went on to note that GM Financial will maintain direct access to capital markets for its funding requirements. GM Financial results will be reported as a separate segment within GM’s consolidated financial results and will continue to report its results as a separate SEC registrant.

The process to acquire AmeriCredit began back on July 22. That’s when GM revealed its plans to acquire AmeriCredit to meet consumer demand for leasing and non-prime financing. It’s scheduled to be an all-cash transaction for about $3.5 billion.

While GM will become the non-prime lender’s parent company, the plan is for AmeriCredit to continue to serve the dealers it already works with, in addition to serving like a captive for GM.

The deal came to fruition rather quickly, according to company officials. GM and AmeriCredit began talking in June about augmenting their relationship. The companies rolled out a non-prime program together in September of last year.

Rumors had been circulating for a while that GM might look into purchasing a lender to help drive sales penetration.

Basically, the acquisition will establish the core of a new GM captive financing arm that will enable the automaker to provide customers with a more complete range of financing options, while creating significant growth opportunities for both GM and AmeriCredit.

Since GM and AmeriCredit launched their successful non-prime program, GM’s non-prime penetration has increased significantly, according to automaker officials.