Ritchie Bros. conducts largest on-the-farm auction in Nampa, AB

USA - English

More than CA$13 million of equipment and farmland was sold in the unreserved public auction in Nampa, AB on March 29

GRANDE PRAIRIE, AB, March 31, 2014 /CNW/ - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE andTSX: RBA), the world's largest auctioneer of farm, construction and other heavy equipment, conducted its largest-ever on-the-farm unreserved public auction on Saturday, March 29, selling more than CA$13 million of agricultural equipment and farmland at an unreserved auction in Nampa, AB. In total, 450+ equipment items and 31 parcels of agricultural farmland was sold in the auction, all without minimum bids or reserve prices. Bids were made at the auction in person, online at www.rbauction.com and by proxy.

"We had close to 1,200 registered bidders from 25 countries (including seven Canadian provinces, two Canadian territories and 22 US states) participating in this record-breaking on-the-farm auction, with over 1,000 people in the crowd onsite and more than 5,800 people watching online," said Simon Wallan, Vice President of Agricultural Sales in Canada. "All the interest for the land and equipment in this auction was remarkable. The atmosphere at the auction was electric and the competition was fierce, it helped to make this the largest-ever on-the-farm auction Ritchie Bros. has conducted worldwide and it once again demonstrated the significant value proposition that an unreserved auction brings. We conducted the auction for the Petluk brothers, and they had a tremendous offering of late model, well maintained equipment. They also sold 31 parcels of farmland, with the bidders vying for this valuable acreage. The 31 parcels of land sold to five buyers for a total of over $10 million. There were many bidders participating, but at the end of the day, five buyers are the new landowners."

Equipment and land sale highlights included:

• Two parcels of land (parcel 21 was 157.98 +/- Title Farmland and parcel 24 was 158.01 +/- Title Farmland) sold for $480,000 each to a buyer from Alberta.
• A 2012 Case IH 550 Quadtrac Track Tractor sold for $305,000 to a buyer from Alberta.
• Two 2012 New Holland CR9090 RWA Combines sold for $225,000 each, one sold to an onsite buyer from Alberta and the other sold to an online buyer from Saskatchewan.
• A 2009 Seed Hawk 8412 84 ft. air drill sold for $180,000 to a buyer from Alberta.

"We are extremely happy with the results and were overwhelmed by the crowd, the attention to detail and the professionalism of the Ritchie Bros. team throughout the process," said sellers Stephen Petluk and Shawna Moffit. "The land and equipment sold well beyond our expectations. We did have two specialized items that were a very good buy for the purchasers, but the overall result was tremendous. We are very pleased."

Tim Petluk echoed their comments: "The results greatly exceeded expectations. The crowd was very large and I would not hesitate to recommend Ritchie Bros. to anyone looking to retire - they should consider the Ritchie Bros. auction process to market their real estate and equipment. The transparency of the auction created competition for all the assets and set new records for farmland values in our region. The results speak for themselves."

Two large Ritchie Bros. auctions in Alberta in April
Ritchie Bros. will continue to take its full-service, unreserved auctions from farm-to-farm all across Western and Central Canada throughout April with close to 60 on-the-farm auctions currently on the auction calendar. The Company will also be hosting two unreserved auctions at its permanent auction sites in Grande Prairie (April 9 - 10) and in Edmonton (April 23 - 25).

More than 2,300 equipment items and trucks will be sold in Grande Prairie at next week's two-day auction. Equipment highlights include late model agricultural tractors, wheel loaders, motor graders, crawler tractors, articulated dump trucks, truck tractors, a large selection of tank, vac and winch trucks and more.

The Ritchie Bros. Edmonton three-day auction in April has traditionally been one of the Company's largest auctions of the year globally. More than 3,400 equipment items and trucks are already listed to be sold in the auction, with many more items expected to be added before auction day. Current equipment highlights include wheel loaders, motor graders, motor scrapers, crawler tractors, articulated dump trucks, truck tractors, a large selection of boom trucks and more.

The Ritchie Bros. auction calendar currently features 135+ unreserved public auctions around the world, visit rbauction.com for more info.

About Ritchie Bros.
Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE andTSX: RBA) is the world's largest seller of used equipment for the construction, transportation, agriculture, material handling, energy, mining, forestry, marine and other industries. Ritchie Bros. ^TM solutions make it easy for the world's builders to buy and sell equipment with confidence, including live unreserved public auctions with on-site and online bidding (rbauction.com), the EquipmentOne^TM secure online marketplace (EquipmentOne.com), a professional corporate asset management program, and a range of value-added services, including equipment financing for customers through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services (rbauctionfinance.com). Ritchie Bros. has operations in more than 25 countries, including 44 auction sites worldwide. Learn more at RitchieBros.com.

ATTENTION MEDIA: Photos and other media resources are available for use at http://www.rbauction.com/media. Members of the public and the media can follow Ritchie Bros. on Twitter @RitchieBros.

SOURCE: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Kim Schulz, Manager, Corporate Communications and Events, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers
Phone: [phone] or email [email protected]

Or

Simon Wallan, Vice President, Sales, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers
Phone: [phone]