The great asset sale continues

Summer sales at UK auctions have
seen two major developments. The first is that online auctions are
becoming an increasingly important means to sell. The second is
that emerging economies outside the EU are more represented at
auctions, at the expense of countries in the CEE region, although
Poland seems to be an exception.

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Manheim Auctions said it has recently
sold more vans and trucks online than ever before. In the first six
months of 2009, the UK vehicle remarketing company sold 2,376 vans
and 444 trucks online for a value in excess of £11.5 million (€13.1
million) – as much as it did during the whole of 2008. Over 15
percent of the nearly 40,000 commercial vehicles sold by Manheim in
the period attracted online bids, and 7 percent of them went to
online buyers. On average, there were 43 online buyers at each of
Manheim sales.

Euro Auctions has seen a big increase
in its online business, too. At the latest auction it held in July,
the plant and construction equipment auctioneer reported an online
bidding increase of 7.5 percent in value over the previous auction.
In total, 17.5 percent of all buyers were bidding online, with the
value of bought plant at almost £2.5 million. Top internet buying
countries were the UK, Netherlands, Poland, Germany and
Finland.

The company reported that, at the peak
of the auction, there were 204 guests logged in on the first day,
and 245 guests logged in on the second. Edward Symmons has gone a
step further. All of the bidding at the company is done online, and
no physical auctions were held last year.

Robin Pritchard, Edward Symmons’ head
of plant and machinery evaluation, said the choice depended on the
vast exposure that can be given online, as bids can be taken in
real time from anywhere in the world.

He added that the online auction is
not “time-barred”.

Pritchard added: “If necessary, an
auction will automatically expand beyond the time of the last bid,
whereas in a physical auction everything has to finish at the knock
of the hammer.”

Meanwhile, Euro Auctions’ July auction
was added to the calendar due to demand coming from North African
and Middle Eastern buyers, and was scheduled to coincide with the
auction season in the region.

The auctioneer said North African
traffic doubled each quarter. It was 20 percent up in the value of
purchases in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the last quarter
of 2008, and 40 percent up in the April-July 2009 period compared
to the previous quarter.

The company said that, while Egypt and
Libya confirmed themselves as big spenders, the first appearance of
countries like Liberia or Tanzania could be due to cheaper and more
accessible shipping.

There were no bidders from Bulgaria,
Romania and Hungary, which traditionally are well represented at
its auctions.

However, Poland was an exception.
Polish buyers spent over £1 million at the auction, 7 percent of
the total sales. Cyprus was another country buying well, “one to
watch in the next auction”, according to Euro Auctions.

Poland also continued to purchase with
Edward Symmons but, as with Euro Auctions, Eastern European
countries have been struggling in the past few months.

Pritchard said the company is more
cautious with bidders from Eastern Europe, given the increased
probability of default.

“Before people can register for one of
our auctions and bid online, they have to be underwritten or
accepted as bidder, and we also do money-laundering checks,” he
said.

Despite the drop in the Eastern
Europe, Edward Symmonds’ export sales have also increased.

The company said that India and China
were “definitely” major buyers, and the asset types in demand were
print and engineering.

Euro Auctions: major bidders
and buyers, July auction