The two companies promise a “unique auction experience, backed by technology.” The merger looks to be a move by IronPlanet to incorporate onsite auctions into its currently online-only format and caps off a pretty big year for the company, which started in 2000.
According to the announcement, the merger will give customers access to both online and onsite auctions “as well as multiple timing and pricing options.”
Iron Planet chairman and CEO Greg Owens will continue to hold those positions in the combined entity and the company will be headquartered in Iron Planet’s hometown of Pleasanton, California. Cat Auction Services president and CEO Gary Trettel will continue to oversee the CAS onsite auction format at the new company and will serve on the Executive Committee of IronPlanet.
The Cat Auction Services office in Eagan, Minn. will become the Midwest office for IronPlanet. Cat Auction Services was formed in 2008.
This year at ConExpo, Owens discussed IronPlanet’s desire to serve as a “multi-solution online marketplace” for its 1 million registered customers and 2014 has certainly shown that to be the case.
In January the company announced a partnership with Mascus that integrated equipment searches across the sites. In June, the company launched allEquip, a site where equipment isn’t auctioned, but instead sold at “Buy it Now” prices. Then, in September, the site launched GovPlanet, where surplus military vehicles and machines are auctioned. The site recently hosted the first public auction of military Humvees.
The merger is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015.
