Machinery including huge diggers that belonged to a doomed Welsh construction firm have gone under the hammer and been sold for £5.35m.
Swansea-based Dawnus went into administration three months ago, causing huge ramifications for construction projects across the country.
The firm was founded in 2001 and by 2012 had a turnover of more than £175m.
Despite this initial boom of success, the company folded in March and its huge collection of machinery and other construction equipment was put up for sale at a two-day auction event in Clydach and Port Talbot last week.
In total, more than 1,000 assets were sold to bidders from 38 countries around the world, with the vast majority of those taking part in the auction online.
Among the items sold were excavators, site dumpers, mini diggers, bulldozers, rollers, buckets, and various configurations of lorries and crew vehicles.
The final sale total was £5.35m.
Some of the most expensive purchases included:
- Massey Ferguson tractor - £26,000
- CAT straight blade and tilt digger - £130,000
- CAT articulated dumptruck - £97,500
- Bomag single drum vibrating roller - £45,500
- Doosan wheeled Loader with bucket - £50,000
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Three Scania lorries, priced at £155,000, £101,000 and £73,000 respectively
The auction was held by Euro Auctions, which say the machinery on offer had a "global appeal".
“The sale was very well attended on the day, with a good crowd of serious buyers, such was the overall interest in the inventory,” said Neil McIlwaine, director of sales and business development at Euro Auctions.
“All equipment sold had been extremely well maintained and interest was strong. As with all Euro Auctions sales, everything was sold without reserve which resulted in competitive bidding.
“Strong international interest was evident, with buyers from the UK being the highest number, followed by Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and Spain, equating to about 40% of all equipment going overseas, such is the global appeal of good quality and well-maintained equipment and machinery.”
In May it was revealed that Dawnus had unsecured debts of almost £50m.
£40m was owed to other businesses, £5m to its employees, and £3m to the HMRC.
When the firm entered administration on Friday, March 15, it had several public contracts, including work on a £12m redevelopment project in Manchester, three schools in Powys and a flood defence scheme in Cardiff.
