Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is an industrial auctioneer. The company has 110 locations in 25 countries and 43 auction sites worldwide. The company sells through unreserved public auctions a broad range of used and unused industrial assets, including equipment, trucks and other assets utilized in the construction, transportation, agricultural, material handling, mining, forestry, petroleum, and marine industries.

Ritchie Bros. is a public company. Its common shares are traded on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol RBA.

History

The Ritchie Brothers

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers was established in Kelowna, B.C., Canada. The three Ritchie brothers – Ken, John and Dave Ritchie – took over the OK Used Furniture Store from their father in 1955. They entered the auction business in 1958 when they needed CA$2,000 to pay a bank debt on short notice. A friend suggested they conduct an auction to get rid of some surplus inventory from the furniture store. They conducted their first auction at the Scout Hall in Kelowna in 1958 and discovered a new way of doing business.

Starting with that first auction at the Scout Hall, Ritchie Bros. maintained a strict policy of conducting unreserved auctions – meaning there were no minimum bids and no reserve prices. The brothers also established a policy of not allowing bid-ins or buybacks by the sellers.Jeffrey L. Rodengen, The......
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