Ritchie Bros. sold a record-breaking 10,500+ equipment items and trucks at its premier global auction last week in Orlando, Florida. The five-day unreserved public auction (February 16 – 20, 2015) attracted 9,350+ on-site and online bidders from 81 countries and generated US$179+ million in gross auction proceeds, including a record US$66+ million sold to online buyers. Multiple Orlando auction site records were also set, including total number of registered bidders (9,350+), number of online bidders (5,000+), total number of buyers (2,650+), number of online buyers (1,300+) and number of sellers (875).

"Our February Orlando auction is the largest auction we hold each year. The record 10,500+ industrial assets sold at this year's sale, and the record number of worldwide bidders the auction attracted, demonstrates the global reach and cross-sector appeal of this multi-day event," said Ravi Saligram, Chief Executive Officer, Ritchie Bros. "In fact, we sold more transportation sector assets at this sale than any of our previous Orlando auctions before, including a record 310 truck tractors on Friday. We're also pleased with the strong performance of the transactions we underwrote at this auction."

Ritchie Bros. sold equipment for 875 sellers, including 80+ heavy construction items for Hermanos Yarull T. & Co., a civil engineering contractor based in the Dominican Republic.

The auction attracted equipment buyers from across North America and around the world, in person and online. Close to US$144 million of equipment (or 80%) was sold to buyers located outside the state of Florida, including more than US$48 million (or 27%) sold to buyers outside the country. Buyers participated from as far away as Australia, Ecuador, Thailand, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

"We had a tremendous crowd at last week's Orlando auction, with a large presence both on site and online," said Steve Kriebel, Regional Sales Manager, Ritchie Bros. "This resulted in strong prices throughout the week, particularly on crawler tractors, excavators and transportation equipment."

The record-setting selection of equipment in the Orlando auction included 500+ compactors, 450+ excavators, 270+ wheel loaders, 240 crawler tractors, 310 truck tractors, 200+ van trucks, 90+ dump trucks and more. Every item was sold without minimum bids or reserve prices.