IronPlanet and Associated Auction Services LLC, an alliance of Caterpillar and several of its independent dealers, which operates under the name Cat Auction Services have completed their merger.
Gregory J. Owens, IronPlanet chairman and CEO called the completion of the merger exciting. “I am confident that our marketplace offerings will enable our sellers to maximize the recovery on assets sold by reaching the right buyers at the right time through channels that are optimized for them." Owens said that the merger also will give buyers access to a broad selection of equipment so that they can manage their inventory on their time frames.
Together, IronPlanet and Cat Auction Services’ customers will benefit from the most comprehensive integrated platform in the industry for managing their used heavy equipment acquisition and disposition strategies.
Major Milestone
During its 15 year expansion, IronPlanet has grown from a used heavy equipment online auction site to a platform of six marketplaces – IronPlanet, TruckPlanet, GovPlanet, allEquip, Kruse Energy & Equipment Auctioneers, and now Cat Auction Services – and a full suite of support services.
"The transformation of IronPlanet and our broad set of marketplaces positions us to achieve GMV exceeding $1 billion over the next year," said Owens.
IronPlanet’s momentum is illustrated by:
- The ability to leverage its more than 1.3 million registered users from around the world, ensuring strong bidder and buyer participation for sellers across all IronPlanet marketplaces. On average since 2010 annually, IronPlanet has enabled sellers from 40 countries to reach buyers in more than 100 countries, with 50 percent of all items receiving international bids and 30 percent of items being exported after sale.
- The completion of its merger with Cat Auction Services, enabling IronPlanet to add onsite auction capabilities as well as access to the industry’s largest selection of late model, low hour Cat equipment.
- Hosting its two largest auction weeks in its history – both in excess of $45 million gross merchandise volume (GMV) of equipment sold – in as many months: its annual three-day Florida auction this past February and its end-of-quarter auctions across six of its marketplaces the week of March 23rd. IronPlanet’s joint event with Cat Auction Services in Florida drew 131 sellers, including 25 participating Cat dealers. This compares to Cat Auctions Services GMV of $18 million at its 2014 Florida auction.
- Its November 2014 launch of GovPlanet, which about tripled revenue for the government on the disposition of rolling stock for the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services of the U.S. Department of Defense on its GovPlanet marketplace.
- Its purchase of Kruse Energy & Equipment Auctioneers also in November 2014, the leader in oilfield equipment auctions, having conducted more than 90 percent of the energy auctions in the U.S. over the past 25 years.
