Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sold millions of dollars of heavy equipment and trucks at its unreserved public auctions last week including a CA$50 million (close to US$49 million) auction in Edmonton, AB and a US$41 million auction in Houston, TX, as well as a grand opening auction in Chehalis, WA. Bids were made at the auctions on-site, online in real time at www.rbauction.com and by proxy.

More than 4,500 people from 38 countries registered to bid in person or online in the two-day unreserved auction in Edmonton, AB on June 13 & 14, 2012. The auction featured more than 4,100 heavy equipment items and trucks and generated gross auction proceeds in excess of CA$50 million.

“The equipment market in Edmonton has been very strong in 2012, and based on auction results this week it is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon,” said Jim Rotlisberger, Regional Sales Manager, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. “Alberta is well-known for its mining and oilfield industry and we have seen particularly strong results on late-model, low-hour equipment for both of those industries—companies need quality equipment to put to work right away and that’s exactly what our auctions provide.”

Equipment in the auction was sold for more than 700 owners. More than 2,100 of the bidders registered to bid online in the Edmonton auction and purchased more than CA$13 million (US$13 million) of equipment. On-site and online buyers from outside Alberta purchased more than CA$15.5 million (US$15 million) of equipment (31% of the total) from as far away as the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Thailand.

Ritchie Bros. also conducted another unreserved public auction, at its permanent auction site in Houston, TX on June 12 & 13, selling more than US$41 million of heavy equipment and trucks over two days.

“We sold more than 3,100 equipment items and attracted bidders from more than 50 countries which resulted in strong competition throughout the auction,” said Alan McVicker, Ritchie Bros. Regional Sales Manager. “This auction—our third of 2012—featured one of the best selections of oilfield transport and heavy haul equipment we have ever offered, including more than 150 truck tractors, 80 lowboys, 50 winch tractors and more. Pricing in the auction was strong on all these equipment types and for the good quality construction equipment that was sold in this sale. The oilfield industry items were an auction highlight—they attracted bids from every corner of the world!”

More than 3,000 people from more than 50 countries, including all 50 U.S. states, registered to bid in person or online in the Houston auction—with online buyers purchasing more than US$13 million of equipment. Buyers from outside of Texas purchased more than US$21 million of equipment (51% of the total), including more than US$8 million purchased by buyers outside of the United States.

Ritchie Bros. also conducted a multi-million dollar grand opening auction in Chehalis, WA on Thursday, June 14. The auction featured more than 2,300 equipment items and trucks and attracted more than 2,700 registered bidders from 40 countries.

The new Chehalis permanent auction site replaced Ritchie Bros.’ auction site in Olympia, WA where the Company conducted auctions from 1979 until 2011.