On October 27, 2016, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. (“Ritchie Bros.”) closed a new five-year credit agreement totaling US$1 billion with a syndicate of lenders. The syndicate included 14 banks.
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers is the world’s largest industrial auctioneer and leading equipment distributor. The company, which offers public auctions of heavy equipment for construction, transportation, agricultural and other industries, is headquartered in Burnaby, BC.
The agreement comprised a US$675-million revolving credit facility to support operating cash flow needs and higher business volume, and a US$325-million delayed-draw term loan to fund a portion of the previously announced acquisition of IronPlanet Inc. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. and RBC Capital Markets served as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners. Bank of America, N.A. served as Administrative Agent and the Royal Bank of Canada as Syndication Agent.
Ritchie Bros. was represented by Ranj Sangra and Ryan Welsh of its Vancouver-based internal legal group.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP acted as lead counsel to Ritchie Bros. with a team that included Kristine Dunn, Nicholas Dumas and Harikrishna Mehta.
Lawson Lundell LLP acted as Canadian counsel to Ritchie Bros. and was represented by Mandeep Dhaliwal, Jyotika Reddy and Allison Reed.
Moore & Van Allen LLP acted as lead counsel for the lending syndicate with a team that included Matt Plyler, Andrew Price and Matt Van Hoy.
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP acted as Canadian counsel for the lending syndicate with a team that included Shane Pearlman and Evita Ferreira.