Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers announced that it will be holding its first unreserved public auction in China during Spring 2013. Although relatively new to the Chinese heavy equipment market, unreserved industrial auctions have been a quick and easy method for equipment buyers and sellers to conduct business on a global scale. And for more than 50 years now, the Canada-based Company has been helping the world’s builders to easily and confidently exchange equipment at its auction sites all over the world. Today, Ritchie Bros. announced that it will bring the certainty of unreserved auctions to Chinese equipment buyers and sellers now that the Company’s Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise application has been approved by the Chinese government – making it the first foreign auction company to receive this approval.

Ritchie Bros. has formally leased land in the Tianzhu Free Trade Zone (Shunyi, Beijing) in preparation for this first unreserved public auction in China. Strategically located within minutes of Beijing Capital International Airport, the Tianzhu Free Trade Zone is connected to one of China’s largest roll-on, roll-off ports in Tianjin.

Ritchie Bros. has been working with Chinese buyers and sellers for many years. The Company’s current customer base includes Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and construction companies that have been selling their equipment at auctions overseas and learning about the international equipment market. Ritchie Bros. has also been working with Chinese government officials for a number of years to acquire the proper permits for holding auctions in China.

 “We established our presence in China in 2004,” added Chris Edwards, Ritchie Bros. General Manager for China, Korea and Mongolia. “We have been learning China’s market, customer needs and behaviors, regulations and business processes. Our goal has always been to be a good, educated citizen in China.”