NEW YORK, NY.- LiveAuctioneers, one of North America’s favorite destinations for fine and decorative arts, antiques and luxury goods, announced its acquisition by Auction Technology Group plc (LON:ATG). Following the receipt of final approvals required in order to proceed, ATG expects to complete the acquisition shortly. LiveAuctioneers is currently owned by Cove Hill Partners, a Boston-based, long-term oriented private equity firm that invests in consumer internet and technology businesses.
ATG’s mission is to be a trusted partner to the auction industry as it continues its structural shift to online, driving the appeal of secondhand items and accelerating the growth of the circular economy. The acquisition of LiveAuctioneers demonstrates ATG’s commitment to helping auctioneers build their businesses and compete with global e-commerce giants by enabling them to reach a global pool of bidders, while also providing bidders with access to millions of unique and specialized items.
This transaction will enhance the enlarged group’s offering to auctioneers and bidders across the world. It will enable the thousands of auction houses that run their auctions on LiveAuctioneers to benefit from the ability to list their auctions on ATG’s existing marketplaces and reach a wider audience of buyers of fine art and antiques in the UK and EU. ATG’s existing auctioneer clients will have the option to list on LiveAuctioneers, reaching bidders in North America who annually win more than one million items on LiveAuctioneers.com. The acquisition will also enable ATG to integrate LiveAuctioneers’ easy-to-use payments solution across its global business, significantly simplifying this process for auctioneers and enhancing the buying experience for winners.
Under Cove Hill Partners’ ownership, LiveAuctioneers has seen significant growth in recent years, receiving more than 56 million bidder sessions in 2020. The acquisition will bring an estimated 1,600 auctioneers and 120,000 bidders to ATG’s network, as well as 27,000 auctions per year and 1.3 million lots sold. It will also give the company access to the US art & antiques market – a segment that is twice the size of that of the UK. ATG already has a growing presence in the North American auction industry, selling high-value construction and farm equipment on its online marketplace, Proxibid, and food & beverage plus heavy industrial, metal, and woodworking equipment through its BidSpotter marketplace, as well as providing best-in-class white label services through its subsidiary Auction Mobility.
LiveAuctioneers will continue to operate with its headquarters in New York City and be led by CEO Phil Michaelson. ATG’s existing art and antiques marketplaces are thesaleroom.com, which was founded by ATG in 2006, and German fine art and antiques marketplace lot-tissimo.com, which was acquired by ATG in 2018. The Group also operates four marketplaces in the industrial and commercial sector.
Phil Michaelson, CEO of LiveAuctioneers, commented: “Auctioneers and their consignors should be delighted. As part of Auction Technology Group, LiveAuctioneers’ partners will extend their reach to ATG’s formidable network of bidders from 150 countries around the world. Also, LiveAuctioneers will be investing more deeply into making the end-to-end bidder experience at auctions more seamless. This will help small business owners realize the full value of the art and antique items being auctioned and broaden the appeal of live-streamed online auctions as the best path to buy and sell previously owned goods. Together, LiveAuctioneers and ATG team members will help auctioneers to give new life to millions of one-of-a-kind items annually in the categories of art, furniture, home decor, jewelry, and more.”
John-Paul Savant, CEO of ATG, commented: “We are incredibly excited to welcome LiveAuctioneers to ATG. This is a significant milestone that will enhance our ability to support the transformation of the auction industry in its structural shift to online, and brings exciting new opportunities to further enable auctions to play their part in accelerating the growth of the circular economy. We look forward to working with a well-respected and experienced team, allowing us to widen our existing expertise and deliver further value to auctioneers, those who consign to auctioneers, and bidders.
“This combination will enable more auction houses to thrive in an increasingly digital world, extending their reach to bidders globally and bringing bidders access to millions of items. We will have a combined and growing network of c.3,800 auction houses, c.800,000 bidders, and host 70,000 auctions per year. Through further building our presence in the large and rapidly growing US art and antiques market, and adding technology capability and scale, we look forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with auctioneers in the years ahead.”
