Ritchie Bros Auctioneers’ £775m acquisition of Euro Auctions gives the Canadian firm more than 90% of the UK market for construction machinery auctions, the competition watchdog found.
Ritchie Bros revealed in August 2021 that it had agreed to pay £775m for Euro Auctions, which was founded by Derek Keys and his brothers in Northern Ireland in 1998.
“The CMA has decided, on the information currently available to it, that it is or may be the case that this merger may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the United Kingdom,” it said. “This merger will be referred for an in-depth investigation unless Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Incorporated offers acceptable undertakings to address these competition concerns.”
Ritchie Bros has until Friday this week (11th March) to come up with a proposal that might satisfy the Competition & Markets Authority. Otherwise the CMA will refer the acquisition to a phase two investigation.
The CMA assessed whether the market in question should also be considered to include transport and agriculture but found them to be sufficiently distinctive markets.
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