Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers conducted a record-breaking $47 million two-day unreserved public equipment auction at its permanent auction site in Ocaña (Madrid), Spain March 17 and 18, 2011. The auction set a new company record for largest Spain auction to date — the previous record of $43 million was set in March 2009 at the company's Moncofa site.

The auction also set new site records for registered bidders and number of lots sold — more than 1,500 people competed on site and online at www.rbauction.com for the 2,300 plus equipment items and trucks featured in the record-breaking auction.

"Last week's Ocaña auction was our biggest auction in Spain to date, breaking previous records for number of lots sold, registered bidders and gross auction proceeds," said Guylain Turgeon, senior vice president and managing director EMEA, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. "The large international crowd that attended the Ocaña auction actively bid in person and online, which resulted in strong prices across all equipment categories. The certainty of exposing surplus equipment to a worldwide audience of bidders and then selling everything on auction day without minimum bids or reserve prices has demonstrated its value in a still uncertain Spanish market."

Bidders from 55 countries competed for the more than 2,300 construction, mining and transportation equipment items sold in the auction. More than 80 percent, or $38 million, of the equipment sold in the Ocaña auction was purchased by out-of-country buyers from as far away as Australia, Belgium, Morocco, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada. More than 400 bidders participating in the auction registered to bid online, purchasing $5.4 million, or 12 percent of the equipment.

This record-breaking Ocaña auction featured a large selection of mining, crushing and aggregate equipment, including 43 Caterpillar 777F rock trucks — several of which were late model.

"Selling this large selection of late-model rock trucks was extremely exciting," said Turgeon. "On-site and online bidders were eagerly competing for the trucks they needed, with successful bidders coming from Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Venezuela and the United States."

For more information, please visit www.rbauction.com.

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