Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers’s shareholders have approved a three-for-one stock split of its outstanding common shares at the company’s 2008 annual and special meeting held on April 11. The stock split will be effected by an amendment to the company’s articles of amalgamation.

Shareholders of record at the close of business on April 24 will be entitled to receive two additional common shares for each common share they hold at that time. Ritchie Bros. currently has approximately 34.9 million common shares outstanding, and following the three-for-one split, the number of common shares outstanding will be approximately 104.6 million.

Trading in the company’s common shares on a post-stock split basis is expected to commence on the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 22 and on the New York Stock Exchange on April 28. The company expects that the additional shares issued in the stock split will be distributed to the shareholders of record by the company’s transfer agent on or about April 25. Existing share certificates should not be returned to the company’s transfer agent.

The company also announced the appointment of Robert Waugh Murdoch as the chairman of the board, replacing Charles Edward Croft who retired as a director at the meeting. Clifford Russell Cmolik also retired from the board at the meeting.

Murdoch has been a director of the company since 2006 and has extensive experience in the construction industry, having spent most of his career with Lafarge S.A. and affiliated entities in North America and overseas, retiring from the position of president and CEO of Lafarge Corporation in 1992.

In addition, the company announced that Christopher Zimmerman was elected as a new director of the company. Zimmerman has broad experience in sales, marketing, research, design and development, and operations, and currently serves as president and chief executive officer of Canucks Sports and Entertainment, a sports entertainment company located in Vancouver, B.C.

With the addition of Zimmerman, and the resignation of Croft and Cmolik from the board of directors, the total number of directors of the company has been reduced from seven to six. The company intends to add at least one additional director to the board before the 2009 annual meeting of shareholders, if and when suitable candidates with appropriate skills and experience are identified.

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