Ritchie Bros. completes purchase of IronPlanet, defines leadership roles

Ritchie Bros., the world's largest heavy-equipment auctioneer and provider of end-to-end services, has completed its acquisition of IronPlanet, a leading online marketplace for heavy equipment and other durable assets.

Ritchie Bros. acquired IronPlanet for approximately $758.5 million, subject to customary closing adjustments. The acquisition was financed through a combination of Ritchie Bros.' previously announced senior note offering and secured term loan facility. The transaction is expected to be earnings accretive within the first year, excluding acquisition-related costs.

The acquisition of IronPlanet accelerates Ritchie Bros.' strategy of becoming a one-stop, multi-channel company where customers can buy, sell, or list equipment, when, how, and where they choose–both on site and on line. Later this year, Ritchie Bros. will combine its online EquipmentOne brand with the IronPlanet DailyMarketplace, creating a harmonized brand offering called Marketplace E that gives customers more ways to set reserve pricing. Ritchie Bros. also gains expanded growth capabilities in the oil and gas and government sectors.

The company will be combining the Ritchie Bros. and IronPlanet sales forces in the U.S., Canada and Europe, in line with its strategy to provide customers a one-stop, multi-channel experience.

Territory and strategic account managers will be positioned as solution sellers and will offer customers three main products: RBA integrated unreserved on-site auctions; IronPlanet weekly featured auctions; and Marketplace E, an IronPlanet solution.

Mascus, Kruse Energy and GovPlanet will continue to remain as stand-alone businesses with stand-alone sales teams, given that they serve specialized customer segments.

As a part of this acquisition, Ritchie Bros. also enters into an initial five-year strategic alliance with Caterpillar that is expected to strengthen its relationship with Caterpillar's independent dealers around the world by providing them enhanced and continued access to a global auction marketplace to sell their used equipment. The company also will continue to coordinate and manage Cat auctions in respective Cat dealer geographies.

"We are pleased that the acquisition of IronPlanet has been completed and I am delighted to welcome IronPlanet employees to the Ritchie Bros. family. Our shared passion for serving customers is loud and clear and it will continue to be our guiding light in the unified company," said Ravi Saligram, Ritchie Bros. CEO. "Our integration plans have been meticulously worked on during the last nine months: our combined senior management team will be in place Day 1 and our sales forces will be integrated within the first 30 days. In the second half of 2017, we will focus on aligning and unifying the company, optimizing the integration, starting to achieve synergies and getting the organization ready for a fast start in 2018 to deliver growth and add shareholder value."

Saligram has designed his new organizational structure to maximize growth outcomes by utilizing the complementary skillsets of senior leaders from both companies. All leaders mentioned below report to Saligram unless otherwise mentioned.