DETROIT — In a SEC filing this week, GMAC reported that chief financial officer Robert Hull has decided to leave the company at the end of March.

GMAC said in the SEC filing it will conduct an internal and external search for potential CFO candidates in the interim. A company spokesperson confirmed that Hull is leaving, but did not offer further details.

During the company's fourth quarter conference call, Hull said, "As this marks my eighth quarter at GMAC, I will confirm that the progress for 2009 has been transformational. In '09 we reignited our partnership with General Motors and we added Chrysler, which has begun to diversify our originations and profit base. Our auto business has returned to profitability in 2009 and had pretax earnings of around $1.7 billion for the year."

What company is Hull moving on to join? The answer is Providence Equity Partners, which has its headquarters in Providence, R.I. He will be joining this company in early April as CFO.

The company refers to itself as a leading global private equity investment firm that specializes in entertainment, communications and information companies.

Hull is replacing Raymond Mathieu who will become managing director focused on special projects.

Commenting on the move, Jonathan Nelson, chief executive officer of Providence, said, "We are delighted to welcome Robert Hull to Providence. Rob brings an exceptional track record of serving as CFO at large and complex financial institutions, as well as public and private companies in a variety of industries. His experience and expertise will be invaluable as we continue to grow Providence in the years ahead."

Meanwhile, Hull added, "Providence is one of the critical players in the U.S. and global private equity market, and I look forward to working with Jonathan and the entire Providence team."

Business Overview

In another SEC statement, GMAC offered an overview of some business results.

For instance, during 2009, GMAC originated 1.1 million auto loans and leases totaling about $25.7 billion. The company also noted that it provided financing for 20 percent of GM's global retail sales.

Furthermore, during 2009, GMAC indicated that it financed 4.1 million vehicles via wholesale or floor-plan financing. Officials also noted that GMAC financed 78 percent of General Motors' sales last year. Executives pointed out that wholesale financing represents the largest portion of their commercial auto finance business.

As of Dec. 31, 2009, GMAC Mexicana, which services all assets associated with the company's Mexican retail and wholesale auto finance, had assets of about $1.7 billion, including about $1 billion of consumer finance receivables and loans, along with $0.5 billion in commercial finance receivables and loans. Also, as of Dec. 31, the subsidiary had about $1 billion in debt owed to third parties and $0.1 billion in debt owed to GMAC or other subsidiaries of GMAC.

At the end of the fourth quarter, GMAC International Holdings — a private company that conducts retail and wholesale auto finance in Canada, Hungry, Italy, Russia, France, Portugal, Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic — had consolidated assets of about $7.3 billion, including about $4.9 billion in receivables from subsidiaries of GMAC. Officials noted that this figure excludes GMAC Canada.

GMAC officials noted that they have ended wholesale and retail originations and sold assets in some of these countries, or have taken actions to do so in the "near future."

During the fourth-quarter conference call, Hull noted, "We continue to wind down certain international auto operations, which generated $118 million of losses in the quarter. In addition to those having an impact on pretax earnings, we also booked a valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets. This increased our net loss by about $1 billion. As we demonstrate earnings, we will be able to release this revenue."

He also said, "I want to mention that during the quarter, we have further isolated certain non-core international auto, insurance and mortgage businesses as discontinued, and will begin to report them separately form the primary segment information."

Continuing on, GMAC Canada had total consolidated assets of about $15.2 billion and about $10.4 billion in debt owed to third parties. Additionally, $1.3 billion in debt is owed to GMAC or other subsidiaries of the parent company, according to the SEC statement.

"As GMAC continues to sell assets or cease asset originations in certain countries, it expects that consolidated assets at GMAC International Holdings will be reduced over time," officials highlighted.

In other details, officials highlighted GMAC Continental, a Delaware limited liability company, which has an active auto finance foreign branch in Belgium. Officials noted that the operations of the Swedish branch have ended and are now conducted through GMAC Financial Services AB.

As of the fourth quarter, Continental LLC and its subsidiaries, including Masterlease Limited, had total assets of about $0.8 billion, about $0.4 billion in debt owed to third parties and about $0.1 billion in debt owed to GMAC or other subsidiaries of the parent company. Masterlease, in which Continental LLC owns a 49.9 percent equity interest, is the division that handles the European fleet management and full-service leasing business. At the end of the quarter, Masterlease Limited had assets of about $2.3 billion, about $0.5 billion in debt owed to third parties and about $0.3 billion in debt owed to GMAC and other subsidiaries of the parent.