Compass Lexecon Client Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. Granted Approval in Proposed Acquisition of IronPlanet Holdings, Inc.

In August 2016, Ritchie Bros., the world's largest industrial auctioneer of construction, transportation and other equipment and trucks, entered into an agreement to acquire IronPlanet, a leading online marketplace for used heavy equipment and other durable assets. In May 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) unconditionally approved the merger after issuing a second request and investigating the transaction. A Compass Lexecon team led by Jon Orszag and Guillermo Israilevich worked closely with James A. Fishkin, Rani A. Habash, Konstantin Medvedovsky and Craig G. Falls of Dechert LLP, and Garret Rasmussen and Antony Kim of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP to analyze the competitive effects of the proposed acquisition. Using two different econometric analyses, Compass Lexecon showed that the parties did not charge lower commissions for online and onsite auctions of equipment in areas in which the other party had relatively more presence. After Compass Lexecon economists presented analyses demonstrating that the proposed merger would not likely harm competition as the parties are subject to competitive constraints from other auction companies and other selling methods for used equipment, the DOJ cleared the transaction without conditions. The Compass Lexecon team in our Washington, DC office also included Georgi Giozov, Joel Papke, Ben Wagner, Jackie Chen and Anh Dao.