Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Announces Closing of AssetNation Acquisition

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA AND HOUSTON, TEXAS (May 16, 2012)– Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX:RBA), the world’s largest industrial auctioneer, announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of AssetNation, a leading online marketplace and solutions provider for surplus and salvage assets. Ritchie Bros. intends to continue to grow AssetNation’s core business as well as to leverage their e-commerce expertise and technology platform to develop and launch unique new services for equipment owners whose buying and selling preferences may not be met by the Company’s live unreserved auctions.

“We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of AssetNation and are excited to be working together with their team to develop and launch new business solutions to help the world’s builders easily and confidently exchange equipment,” said Peter Blake, Chief Executive Officer, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. “We remain strongly dedicated to our core unreserved auction business and see many years of growth in front of us in this segment of the market. We also see a clear opportunity to create complementary compelling solutions to expand our addressable market significantly by appealing to a new market segment we have not traditionally reached with our unreserved auctions.”

The acquisition closed on May 15, 2012 for all cash consideration of approximately US$64 million. AssetNation was purchased from the controlling shareholder Spire Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm. Investor Day in New York, NY Ritchie Bros. will host an investor session at 8:30 am Eastern Time (5:30 am Pacific Time) today to discuss the Company’s strategic plan and growth initiatives. Investors and other interested parties may access a live broadcast of the investor session by going to the Ritchie Bros. website http://www.rbauction.com, clicking on ‘About Ritchie Bros.’ then clicking on ‘For Investors’. Please go to the website at least fifteen minutes early to download any necessary audio software. An audio replay of the teleconference will be available for a limited time on the Company’s website shortly after the session.