Ritchie Bros buy AssetNation for US$64m

RSS8033 Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has bought online surplus and salvage marketplace company AssetNation in a deal worth around US$64million.

According to Ritchie Bros chief executive, Peter Blake, everyone connected to the Canadian company is “very excited” by the potential benefits of the deal. 

"We intend to leverage our market knowledge and the power of our brand not only to fuel the growth of 5504 AssetNation's business, but also to help us meet the diverse and evolving preferences of a segment of the equipment market that we have not traditionally reached with our unreserved auctions,” said Blake.

He added: "We believe that adding AssetNation's best-in-class technology and deep e-commerce expertise, and leveraging those strengths to develop exciting new services, will allow us to build on our position as the world's largest seller of used heavy equipment and trucks and to attract new customers.”

Blake also highlighted how many of AssetNation's customer relationships are complementary to Ritchie Bros core business, particularly in the energy, fleet and distribution, insurance and government sectors.

Speaking about the deal with Ritchie Bros, AssetNation chief executive Dave Dawson said: "We have invested over 10 years in developing a robust technology platform for online marketplaces and, as part of the Ritchie Bros team, we will develop and launch exciting new buying and selling solutions for equipment owners in the non-auction segment.”