Copart to buy ACV Auctions for $1.9 billion in cash at $10.50 a share, sending ACVA up about 44%

CPRT has agreed to acquire ACVA for $1.9 billion in an all-cash tender at $10.50 per share. Against ACV's unaffected close on August 10 that is a 45% premium, and it is 41% above the stock's 30-day volume-weighted average price through September 9. ACV shares jumped about 44% in premarket trading on the news.

The financing structure is unusually clean for a deal this size. Copart is funding the purchase from cash on hand with no financing condition attached, and both boards approved the transaction unanimously. Completion is conditioned on Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust clearance and a majority of ACV shares being tendered, with the companies targeting a close by year-end 2026. Copart has told investors it expects the acquisition to be neutral to earnings per share in the first year and accretive from fiscal 2028.

Strategically the logic is adjacency rather than consolidation of the same pool. Copart's core business is online auctions of salvage and total-loss vehicles sold largely on behalf of insurers; ACV is a digital wholesale marketplace for dealer-to-dealer used-car trade with vehicle-condition inspection technology attached. Buying ACV moves Copart into whole-car wholesale, a larger and more cyclical pool than salvage, and brings the inspection and condition-reporting stack with it.

One caveat on reading Copart's own share reaction: the company reported fourth-quarter and full-year results the same day, so the move in CPRT reflects both events rather than the acquisition alone. Published same-day moves in Copart ranged from roughly 7% to 9% across outlets, well above the early premarket snapshot, which is why a single intraday figure is the wrong thing to anchor on here. What to watch is the tender participation rate and the HSR timeline, since an all-cash tender with no financing condition leaves antitrust review as the only substantive gate.