Ritchie Bros. to acquire SmartEquip

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is to fully acquire parts e-procurement company SmartEquip for US$175 million.

SmartEquip provides an online portal for rental companies and other fleet owners to procure parts from 600 OEMs in Europe, North America and Asia. It supports $1 billion worth of transactions every year.

The deal is the latest of Ritchie’s acquisitions. In late 2020 it acquired rental data specialist Rouse Services for $275 million, and in August this year it spent $1 billion on buying smaller competitor Euro Auctions.

Ann Fandozzi, Chief Executive Officer of Ritchie Bros., said; “This acquisition furthers our goal of providing the best experience for our customers as we continue our transition from a traditional auctioneer to a marketplace for insights, services, and transaction solutions for commercial assets.

“SmartEquip will enable us to offer asset-specific, full-lifecycle parts and service support on behalf of our dealer and OEM partners to our buyers.”

Ritchie said SmartEquip would continue to operate as a stand-alone business and maintain its office in Norwalk, Connecticut for the foreseeable future. 

Bryan Rich, SmartEquip’s Executive Chairman, said Ritchie Bros. was the perfect partner; “Through their global customer base, this merger will accelerate SmartEquip’s ability to support its rapidly growing footprint across our joint global marketplaces and engaged customer base.

“At closing, the existing SmartEquip team, including all senior management, will transition over and participate in the next growth stage of the SmartEquip network.”

Ritchie Bros. said the deal would accelerate parts and service sales on behalf of its dealer and OEM partners and would further its goal of becoming a “global marketplace for insights, services and transaction solutions for commercial assets”.

It added that SmartEquip would allow it to strengthen its inventory management system and “enable digital solutions at scale around inspections and ancillary services”.

SmartEquip was founded by Alex Schuessler, who is the President of its International Group. The company successfully rolled out its e-procurement model for parts with rental companies and OEMs in North America before launching in Europe several years ago.

Just last week the SmartEquip announced its launch in Japan, working through a local partner which is owned by Japan’s largest rental companies.