================================================================================
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
SCHEDULE TO
(RULE 14d-100)
TENDER OFFER STATEMENT UNDER SECTION 14(d)(1) OR SECTION 13(e)(1) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
AMENDMENT NO. 1
CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION
(Name of Subject Company (Issuer))
CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION
(Name of Filing Person (Offeror))
COMMON STOCK, PAR VALUE $.01 PER SHARE
(Title of Class Securities)
225310-10-1
(CUSIP Number of Class of Securities)
CHARLES A. PEARCE
VICE PRESIDENT -- GENERAL COUNSEL AND CORPORATE SECRETARY
CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION
25505 WEST TWELVE MILE ROAD, SUITE 3000
SOUTHFIELD, MI 48034-8339
(248) 353-2700
(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person
Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications on Behalf of Filing Persons)
WITH A COPY TO:
KENT E. SHAFER
MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONE, P.L.C.
150 WEST JEFFERSON, SUITE 2500
DETROIT, MICHIGAN 48226
(313) 963-6420
================================================================================
CALCULATION OF FILING FEE
TRANSACTION VALUATION* AMOUNT OF FILING FEE**
---------------------- ----------------------
$60,000,000 $7,602.00
*Estimated for purposes of calculating the amount of the filing fee only. The
amount assumes the purchase of a total of 3,000,000 shares of the outstanding
common stock at a price of $20.00 per share in cash.
**The amount of the filing fee equals $126.70 per $1 million of the transaction
value and is estimated in accordance with Rule 0-11 under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934.
[X] Check the box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Rule
0-11(a)(2) and identify the filing with which the offsetting fee was previously
paid. Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or the Form
or Schedule and the date of its filing.
Amount Previously Paid: $7,602.00 Filing Party: Credit Acceptance
Corporation
Form or Registration No. Schedule TO Dated Filed: August 11, 2004
[ ] Check the box if the filing relates solely to preliminary communications
made before the commencement of a tender offer.
Check the appropriate boxes below to designate any transactions to which the
statement relates:
[ ] third-party tender offer subject to Rule 14d-1.
[X] issuer tender offer subject to Rule 13e-4.
[ ] going-private transaction subject to Rule 13e-3.
[ ] amendment to Schedule 13D under Rule 13d-2.
Check the following box if the filing is a final amendment reporting the
results of the tender offer: [ ]
2
This Amendment No. 1 amends and supplements the Tender Offer Statement
on Schedule TO filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 11,
2004 (the "Schedule TO") by Credit Acceptance Corporation, a Michigan
corporation (the "Company" or "CAC"), in connection with the offer by the
Company to purchase up to 3,000,000 shares of its Common Stock, par value $.01
per share (the "Shares"), at a price between $14.00 and $20.00 per Share, net to
the seller in cash without interest, upon the terms and subject to the
conditions described in the Offer to Purchase dated August 11, 2004 (the "Offer
to Purchase") and the related Letter of Transmittal (the "Letter of
Transmittal"), which together, as each may be amended or supplemented from time
to time, constitute the "Offer" and which are appended to and filed with the
Schedule TO as Exhibits (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii), respectively. Capitalized
terms used herein but not otherwise defined have the meanings ascribed to such
terms in the Offer to Purchase.
ITEM 4. TERMS OF THE TRANSACTION
The Section of the Offer to Purchase captioned "Section 3. Procedures
for Tendering Shares" under the subsection "Determination of Validity; Rejection
of Shares; Waiver of Defects; No Obligation to Give Notice of Defects" is hereby
amended by inserting the following sentence immediately prior to the penultimate
sentence:
In the event a condition is waived with respect to any particular
shareholder, the same condition will be waived with respect to all
shareholders.
The Section of the Offer to Purchase captioned "Section 4. Withdrawal
Rights" is hereby amended by amending and restating the second paragraph to read
as follows:
For a withdrawal to be effective, a written, telegraphic or
facsimile transmission notice of withdrawal must be timely received by
the depositary at its address set forth on the back cover page of this
offer to purchase. Shareholders who wish to withdraw shares tendered at
more than one price must submit a separate notice of withdrawal for
each price at which shares were tendered and are being withdrawn. Any
such notice of withdrawal must specify the name of the tendering
shareholder, the number of shares to be withdrawn and the name of the
registered holder of the shares. If the share certificates to be
withdrawn have been delivered or otherwise identified to the
depositary, then, before the release of the share certificates, the
serial numbers shown on the share certificates must be submitted to the
depositary and the signature(s) on the notice of withdrawal must be
guaranteed by an eligible guarantor institution, unless the shares have
been tendered for the account of an eligible guarantor institution.
The Section of the Offer to Purchase captioned "Section 10. Certain
Information Concerning CAC" under the subsection "Incorporation by Reference" is
hereby amended by amending and restating the first paragraph to read as follows
CAC's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003,
its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31,
2004 and June 30, 2004, and its Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 16, 2004 are
incorporated herein by reference and shall be deemed to be a part
hereof. Any statement contained in a document incorporated by reference
herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of
this offer to purchase to the extent that a statement contained herein
modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified shall
not be deemed to constitute a part of this offer to purchase, except as
so modified or superseded.
3
The Section of the Letter of Transmittal captioned "Odd Lots" on page 3
is hereby amended by amending and restating in its entirety the first paragraph
to read as follows:
To be completed only if shares are being tendered by or on behalf of a
person owning, beneficially or of record, an aggregate of fewer than
100 shares.
Instruction 12 of the Letter of Transmittal captioned "Irregularities"
is hereby amended by inserting the following sentence immediately prior to the
penultimate sentence:
In the event a condition is waived with respect to any particular
shareholder, the same condition will be waived with respect to all
shareholders.
SIGNATURES
After due inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify
that the information set forth in this Amendment No. 1 to Schedule TO is true,
complete and correct.
CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION
Dated: August 24, 2004 By: /s/ Brett A. Roberts
------------------------------
Brett A. Roberts
Chief Executive Officer
4
.
.
.
[MILLER CANFIELD LOGO] MICHIGAN: Ann Arbor
Founded in 1852 Detroit - Grand Rapids
by Sidney Davy Miller Howell - Kalamazoo
Lansing - Monroe - Troy
New York, NY
Pensacola, FL
Washington, DC
CANADA: Windsor, ON
KENT E. SHAFER 150 West Jefferson, Suite 2500 POLAND: Gdynia
TEL: (313) 496-7570 Detroit, Michigan 48226 Katowice - Warsaw
FAX: (313) 496-8451 TEL: (313) 963-6420
E-MAIL: SHAFER@MILLERCANFIELD.COM FAX: (313) 496-7500
www.millercanfield.com
August 24, 2004
Mr. Chris B. Edwards
Attorney-Advisor
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Office of Mergers and Acquisitions
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re: Credit Acceptance Corporation Schedule TO-I (File No. 5-45225)
Dear Mr. Edwards:
Our client, Credit Acceptance Corporation (the "Company"), is today
filing Amendment No. 1 to the Schedule TO identified above. We are providing
this letter as requested in the Staff's comment letter dated August 19, 2004
to set forth the Company's responses to the Staff's comments.
In response to the Staff's first comment, the Company is providing you
with a letter containing the requested acknowledgements.
Each of the other comments is set forth below in italics, numbered as
in the Staff's letter, followed immediately by the Company's response.
GENERAL
2. In light of the wide price range within which you will accept tenders,
please provide us with your analysis regarding whether you have
adequately identified the offer price of the securities.
RESPONSE: We understand that the price range may be marginally greater,
on a raw dollar basis, than traditionally seen, but that there are no
established standards for the width of the range. However, the Company
believes that it has adequately identified the offer price for the
securities to the extent required by the applicable rule. Item
1004(a)(1)(ii) of Regulation M-A requires disclosure of "the type and
amount of consideration offered to security holders." The Company
believes the range established is narrow enough to be a meaningful
indicator of the consideration to be paid to tendering shareholders
pursuant to the offer. In addition, the Company has disclosed in detail
MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONE, P.L.C.
Mr. Chris B. Edwards -2- August 24, 2004
Attorney-Advisor
throughout the Offer to Purchase exactly how the price to be paid will
be determined using bid information submitted by tendering
shareholders. As the modified Dutch tender offer methodology permits
tendering shareholders to choose the minimum price at which they are
willing to tender, each tendering shareholder is assured that his or
her shares will not be purchased by the Company for less than the price
chosen by such shareholder, regardless of the width of the price range
presented. Consequently, each tendering shareholder knows exactly the
minimum consideration he or she will receive in the tender. The Company
believes the fact that the amount received may be greater would be
irrelevant to a shareholder's determination of whether or not to
tender.
Moreover, we note that the price at which a shareholder may tender
shares is limited to increments of $0.50, resulting in only 13 price
points. The Company believes this allows shareholders to readily
identify the actual price at which their shares will ultimately be
purchased as any such purchase will not be lower than the price bid and
will be at one of the listed price points. The number of possible price
points is not materially different than is typical in several recent
modified Dutch auction self-tender offers we reviewed and is
substantially fewer than several.
In light of the foregoing, the Company believes it has complied with
the requirement that it disclose the amount of consideration offered to
shareholders. As a result, it has not modified the range of prices in
response to this comment.
SECTION 3 -- PROCEDURES FOR TENDERING, PAGE 12
3. We note that shareholders must submit multiple letters of transmittal
if they determine to tender shares at different prices. Please revise
to clarify whether holders must submit multiple requests to withdraw if
they wish to withdraw shares tendered at different prices.
RESPONSE: The Company has revised the disclosure in the second
paragraph in "Section 4. Withdrawal Rights" on page 16 to clarify that
separate withdrawal requests must be submitted for each price at which
shares were tendered.
DETERMINATION OF VALIDITY, PAGE 16
4. Please refer to the third sentence of this section. Please revise to
clarify that if you waive a condition to the offer that you will waive
the condition for all shareholders. See Rule 13e-4(f)(8). Please make a
similar revision to Instruction 12 of the Letter of Transmittal.
RESPONSE: The Company has revised the disclosure in the section of the
Offer to Purchase captioned "Section 3. Procedures for Tendering
Shares" under the subsection "Determination of Validity; Rejection of
Shares; Waiver of Defects; No Obligation to
MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONE, P.L.C.
Mr. Chris B. Edwards -3- August 24, 2004
Attorney-Advisor
Give Notice of Defects" and Instruction 12 of the Letter of Transmittal
Captioned "Irregularities" as requested.
CONDITIONS OF THE TENDER OFFER, PAGE 19
5. We refer you to the opening paragraph, where you have included language
suggesting that once a condition is triggered, you may decide in your
reasonable judgment whether it is advisable to proceed with the offer.
Please note that when a condition is triggered and the company decides
to proceed with the offer anyway, we believe that this decision
constitutes a waiver of the triggered condition. You may not rely on
this language to tacitly waive a condition to the offer by failing to
assert it. Please confirm your understanding on a supplemental basis.
RESPONSE: The Company confirms its understanding that if it determines
that any of the conditions (as set forth in the Schedule TO, as
amended) has occurred such that the Company need not purchase the
shares tendered pursuant to the offer, the Company may not rely on the
"makes it inadvisable" language to tacitly waive the condition but,
rather, must affirmatively waive the condition if it determines to
proceed with the purchase of the tendered shares.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE, PAGE 23
6. We note that you are attempting to forward-incorporate information by
reference. Please advise us of your basis for asserting such
forward-incorporation by reference in your offer materials, as Schedule
TO does not expressly permit it. In the alternative, remove your
reference to such forward-incorporation by reference from your
disclosure.
RESPONSE: The Company has revised the disclosure in "Section 10.
Certain Information Concerning CAC" under the subsection "Incorporation
by Reference" on page 23 as requested.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
7. We note that you will accept odd lot tenders only from holders who were
odd lot holders at the date of announcement and continue to be odd lot
holders through the expiration date. This condition is inconsistent
with Rule 13e-4(f)(3) and would prohibit holders from becoming odd lot
holders by selling shares in the market prior to expiration. Please
revise.
RESPONSE: The Company has revised the "Odd Lots" provisions on page 3
as requested.
MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONE, P.L.C.
Mr. Chris B. Edwards -4- August 24, 2004
Attorney-Advisor
Recirculation under Rule 13e-4(e)(3)
In view of the nature of the changes made to the Offer to Purchase, the
Company does not believe that the dissemination to shareholders of a supplement
to the Offer to Purchase is required under Rule 13e-4(e)(3). Such dissemination
is only required under the Rule where a material change in the information
published has occurred. It is the Company's view that none of the changes made
to the Offer to Purchase, individually or in the aggregate, are material to the
shareholders or would be reasonably likely to change a reasonable shareholder's
decision whether or not to tender his or her shares. Most, if not all, of the
changes can fairly be characterized as clarifying the existing disclosure or
correcting minor discrepancies.
Please contact either me at (313) 496-7570 or Jeffery LaBine at (313)
496-7664 at your earliest convenience with regard to any of the responses
contained herein, or should you have further comments. As the expiration of the
Offer is September 9, 2004 at 5:00 p.m., we naturally would appreciate your
prompt attention to this matter so as to avoid the time and expense associated
with extending the expiration date of the Offer.
Sincerely,
MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONE, P.L.C.
By: /s/ Kent E. Shafer
Kent E. Shafer
Credit Acceptance [logo]
We change lives!
Silver Triangle Building
25505 West Twelve Mile Road, Suite 3000
Southfield, Michigan 48034-8339
(248) 353-2700
www.creditacceptance.com
August 24, 2004
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Office of Mergers and Acquisitions
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Attn: Chris B. Edwards
Re: Credit Acceptance Corporation Schedule TO-I (File No. 5-45225)
We are providing this letter as requested in the Staff's comment letter dated
August 19, 2004. We acknowledge that:
i) the company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of
the disclosure in the filings with the Commission;
ii) staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff
comments in the filings reviewed by the staff do not foreclose the
Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing; and
iii) the company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any
proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal
securities laws of the United States.
Sincerely,
Credit Acceptance Corporation
By: /s/ Douglas A. Busk
Douglas A. Busk
Chief Financial Officer