For the first time ever, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE: RBA) (TSX: RBA) combined two unreserved industrial auctions, enabling customers in the Middle East to bid live on a wide selection of heavy equipment items being sold at auctions in Dubai and Singapore on the same day. Ritchie Bros., the world’s largest industrial auctioneer, conducted the multi-million dollar combined auction on September 3, 2007 as Day One of a two-day sale at the Company’s Dubai auction site.

The unreserved Dubai auction featured 1,783 lots and generated over US$26 million in gross auction proceeds. More than 500 registered bidders from 47 countries, including 14 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces, attended the auction either in person or via the internet. Eighty-six of the registered bidders participated in the auction live and online, using the Company’s online bidding service, rbauctionBid-Live.

The unreserved Singapore auction featured 74 lots and generated more than US$6 million in gross auction proceeds. More than 180 registered bidders from 31 countries, including eight U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, attended the auction either in person or via the internet. Fifty-five of the registered bidders participated in the auction live and online, using rbauctionBid-Live.

“This is the fourth Ritchie Bros. auction that we’ve put equipment in,” says Ms. Christina Hiu, Director of PT Pamapersada Nusantara (PAMA), Indonesia’s leading mining contractor. “We like working with Ritchie Bros. because we can trust them and we know the bidding process is done properly. The joint Singapore and Dubai auction was a real success because the bidding audience was a lot larger. Not only were there just Singapore bidders on auction day, but the internet and a very large crowd in Dubai was also participating. There truly was a global audience.”

“Our first combined auction was extremely successful,” said Peter Ericson, Area Manager for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers in Singapore. “We had a tremendous response to this combined auction, here in Asia and at our auction site in Dubai - as well as over the internet. There was active bidding at both locations and we are pleased with the global participation at the joint auction, and like all Ritchie Bros. auctions, all items were sold to the highest bidders without reserve prices.”

“We had done our research ahead of time and recognized that the equipment being sold in Singapore was conducive to exporting to the Middle East,” says Stephen Branch, Divisional Manager for Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. “It was beneficial to be able to expand our equipment selection to our buying customers here in Dubai, and it was really well received on auction day. Forty-nine per cent of the Singapore auction purchases went to buyers located outside of Singapore. It was a real ‘win-win’ for everyone involved.”

About Ritchie Bros.

Ritchie Bros. is the world’s largest auctioneer of industrial equipment, operating through over 110 locations in more than 25 countries around the world. 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, material handling, mining, forestry, petroleum, marine, real estate, and agricultural industries. The Company maintains a website at www.rbauction.com.

Posted: 09|5|07 at 2:14 pm. Filed under: Press Release.