Construction/Building — October 27, 2009

Media Advisory/Invitation - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers to host Grand Opening celebration at new Burnaby headquarters

    New 160,000+ square foot building home to 300+ employees, corporate
    child-care centre, fitness facility and café

BURNABY, BC, Oct. 27 /CNW/ - Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX: RBA), the world's largest industrial auctioneer, will celebrate the Grand Opening of its new international head office in Burnaby on Thursday, October 29, in a private function from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. A media event featuring a ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 5:00 p.m. with Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, MP (Burnaby-New Westminster) Peter Julian, MLA (Burnaby-Edmonds) Raj Chouhan and Robert Kavanagh, VP Asset Management of GWL Realty Advisors. Ritchie Bros.' Chief Executive Officer, Peter Blake, Company co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Dave Ritchie and Ritchie Bros.' Chairman of the Board, Robert Murdoch, will also participate in the ribbon cutting. Local politicians, customers, suppliers, vendors and the media have been sent invitations for this event.

"Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers has grown steadily for more than fifty years, conducting unreserved industrial auctions in B.C. and all around the world" said Peter Blake, CEO of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers. "We have maintained our international head office in British Columbia throughout our history because we have found it to be an excellent place from which to manage our global business, and we have never forgotten our Kelowna roots. Gathering our team from three separate Richmond locations into one terrific new building in Burnaby is already generating benefits that allow us to serve our customers better."

The new state of the art 15,200+-square-meter (164,000-ft(2)) office has a wealth of work-life features, including a cafeteria, workout facility and a new corporate child-care center. Currently housing 300+ employees, the Ritchie Bros. headquarters was designed with environmental building practices in mind. As such, Ritchie Bros. hopes the building will achieve LEED Gold certification status from the Canadian Green Building Council-it will be the first LEED Gold building in Burnaby.

    KEY FACTS:

    -  Child-care centre - 465 m(2) (5,000 ft(2)) - licensed to care for a
       maximum of 45 infants, toddlers, preschoolers and a limited number of
       school age children. For now, the centre is available only to staff
       members' children, but there are plans in place to open a few spaces
       to specific corporate partners at some point in the future. Ritchie
       Bros. currently subsidizes the child-care fees for its employees at
       this facility.
    -  Café - 325 m(2) (3,500 ft(2)) - catered by Corporate Classics
       Caterers, the café provides healthy choices for staff at relatively
       low prices. Other than a few "grab and go items," the menu changes
       daily to appeal to a variety of tastes.
    -  Workout facility - 275 m(2) (3,000 ft(2)) - contains modern, high
       quality equipment including 3 treadmills, 3 elliptical machines, 4
       stationary bikes, 1 stair climber, 1 rowing machine, 2 total gyms as
       well as benches with free weights. It is available for staff to use 24
       hours a day, seven days a week.

The private Grand Opening celebration (including entertainment, food and beverages) starts at 4 p.m. on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at the Ritchie Bros. office in Burnaby (9500 Glenlyon Parkway, Burnaby, BC V5J 0C6). The Grand Opening will also include a tour of the building's major amenities and features. For more information about Ritchie Bros., please visit the Company's web site at www.rbauction.com.

About Ritchie Bros.

Established in 1958 in Kelowna, B.C., Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is the world's largest industrial auctioneer, selling more equipment to on-site and online bidders than any other company in the world. The Company has over 110 locations in more than 25 countries, including 39 auction sites worldwide. Ritchie Bros. sells, through unreserved public auctions, a broad range of used and unused industrial assets, including equipment, trucks and other assets utilized in the construction, transportation, agricultural, material handling, mining, forestry, petroleum and marine industries. The Company maintains a web site at www.rbauction.com and sponsors an equipment wiki at www.RitchieWiki.com.

ATTENTION MEDIA - You are invited to this private event. Please contact Kim if you plan on attending for a reserved parking space close to the building:

Directions:

From downtown Vancouver: head south over either the Granville, Burrard or Cambie Street bridge, turn left on West Broadway and head east, turn right at Kingsway, turn right at Boundary Road, turn left at Marine Way, turn right at Glenlyon Parkway, Ritchie Bros. head office is located on Glenlyon Parkway, south of North Fraser Way.

From Hwy 1 and points east: start westbound on Highway 1, take exit 40A to merge onto Brunette Avenue (west) toward New Westminster, take a slight left at Columbia Street East, Continue on Stewardson Way, Continue on Marine Way, turn left at Byrne Road, turn right on North Fraser Way, turn left on Glenlyon Parkway, Ritchie Bros. head office will be on your right.

For further information: Kim Schulz, Manager, Corporate Communications, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Tel: (788) 331-5442 or cel: (604) 788-5379 or email: kschulz@rbauction.com

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