Ritchie Bros. sold more than CA$44 million (US$34+ million) of heavy equipment and trucks at an unreserved public auction in Montreal, QC on March 18 and 19, 2015—the largest Montreal auction in Company history. The two-day auction also set new site records for online sales (CA$20+ million or US$15+ million), total number of registered bidders (5,800+) and number of online bidders (2,600+). Every item was sold without minimum bids or reserve prices. Bids were made in person at the auction site, online at rbauction.com and by proxy.

"We've seen positive pricing trends in Canada so far in 2015," said Randy Wall, President, Canada, Ritchie Bros. "Despite concerns in the oil and energy sectors we've seen strong results in Western Canada and now the trend has continued East with our record-breaking auction this week in Montreal. We had active bidder participation from across Canada and around the world, both on-site and online, with equipment selling to buyers from as far away as Italy, Singapore and Australia. Buyers from outside Quebec purchased approximately 48 percent of the equipment."

More than 2,700 equipment items and trucks were sold in the auction, including 110+ excavators, 50+ compactors, 40+ wheel loaders, 35+ crawler tractors, 130 truck tractors, 260 trailers and more. Sales highlights included eight Komatsu HD465-7EO rock trucks that sold for CA$3.3+ million combined, three Caterpillar D8T crawler tractors that sold for CA$1.1+ million combined, and three Komatsu WA500-6 wheel loaders that sold for CA$780,000 combined. Full auction results are available at rbauction.com with a free account.

"We had an unbelievable selection of equipment and trucks in this auction, which ended up attracting a record crowd for us here in Montreal," said Anna Sgro, Senior Vice President (Canada East), Ritchie Bros. "We would like to thank the more than 500 owners who put their trust in Ritchie Bros. to sell their equipment in this auction."