Ritchie Bros. Acquires Kramer Auctions

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Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers announced Tuesday that it has acquired Kramer Auctions — one of Canada’s longest-running and leading agricultural auction companies.

Headquartered in North Battleford, Kramer has been operating in Western Canada for 67 years — three generations of the Kramer family, offering on-farm and on-site live auctions for equipment, livestock and agricultural real estate.

“We are delighted to welcome the Kramer team to the Ritchie Bros. family. For more than six decades Kramer Auctions has developed strong, trusted farming relationships and deep community roots across the Canadian prairies, which has positioned the business as a leading agricultural auctioneer in Western Canada. Their family values, intense customer focus and innovative approach to delivering exceptional on-the-farm auctions are shared by the Ritchie Bros. team,” said Ravi Saligram, CEO of Vancouver-based Ritchie Bros, in a statement. “We are truly excited about the value we can create by combining our expertise and global reach for customers in farming communities across Canada.”

Ritchie Bros. says the deal, which closed Tuesday, “is expected to significantly strengthen Ritchie Bros.’ penetration of Canada’s agricultural sector and add key talent to our Canadian Ag sales and operations team.”

Kramer operates approximately 75 on-farm auctions, four on-site auctions, and eight livestock (bison) auctions each year. The company sold more than CA$60 million of agricultural equipment, real-estate and other assets in the last year.

Neil Kramer, Kim Kramer, Brendan Kramer and Michael Higgs have all joined Ritchie Bros., and will oversee auctions in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba under the Kramer Auctions brand. Ritchie Bros. says all full-time employees have also been offered continued employment.

“My wife Monica and I, our family, and the Somerville family are all very excited to be joining the Ritchie Bros. team,” said Kramer Auctions president Neil Kramer. “We’ve respected the growth and interest Ritchie Bros. has developed in the agricultural space over the last 15 years, and believe we can offer our customers even greater value by blending our expertise of seamless farm auctions, with Ritchie Bros.’ leading technology and reach of international bidders.”

Ritchie Bros. says it plans to keep the Kramer brand for the immediate future. It will lease Kramer’s permanent auction site at North Battleford.

Kramer Trailer Sales was not part of the deal.

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