DAVENPORT - General Truck Leasing System, based in Davenport and with operations throughout Iowa and Illinois, has been sold to Ryder System Inc.

The acquisition will take effect Thursday. The sale was scheduled to close on Tuesday afternoon.

Ryder also has a letter of intent to acquire Des Moines-based Ruan Leasing Company, another major, privately held truck leasing company. Ruan owns 6,800 vehicles and another 4,800 units under contract maintenance agreements.

All three companies have operations in Waterloo.

General Truck Leasing System has 55 employees in the Quad-Cities, including 30 at the corporate offices. Some job losses are possible.

A source said most employees involved in the truck leasing operation at General facilities in Davenport and Rock Island have been offered jobs with Ryder at the same wage level. Employees in the corporate office would have to transfer out of the Quad-Cities to stay within Ryder.

The General corporate offices eventually will be closed as the business of the company is completed.

"It was the right time to do something like this," said Ed Slivken, vice president of finance for General Truck Leasing System. "This deal presented the best alternative and opportunity for our customers and for a substantial majority of our employees.

"Folding into a larger operation provides greater services and opportunities for our company."

Slivken declined to discuss the sale price or General's annual sales.

General Truck Leasing System, with 4,200 vehicles and more than 700 customers, has been owned since 1971 by Gene Ehlers of Davenport. Slivken said that during Ehlers' ownership, General had acquired nearly 20 other companies before being acquired itself.

General also rented and leased cars until earlier this year.

David Bruce, spokesman for Ryder Systems Inc., said General Truck Leasing System was attractive to Ryder because of its geographical footprint and its reputation for customer service.

"General has a presence in areas where our management believed that we could have an additional presence," Bruce explained. "Our management was also very impressed with General's reputation for serving its customers."

The Ruan deal is projected to close in the first quarter of 2004.

"We're in a relatively small industry where everyone knows one another," Slivken said. "This particular acquisition was the culmination of a long series of discussions."

In 2002, Ryder ranked 345th on the Fortune 500 with revenue of $4.78 billion. Through the first three quarters of 2003 ending Sept. 30, Ryder had sales of $3.43 billion compared to $3.44 billion through three quarters of 2002.