Britannia AuctionsPrivate treaty sales in Manchester
Some of the largest single machines in the North West sit on Trafford Park. A shredder, a baler line, a bottling line or a set of process vessels can be worth more than the rest of the site combined, and a general auction is the wrong place for it. The buyer pool is small and the removal is a project. The seller may also want the matter kept quiet while the rest of the business carries on.
Private treaty is a negotiated sale. We inspect, write it up, approach the buyers who trade in that type of plant, and put every offer to you in writing. Manchester's waste and recycling, food and drink, packaging and chemical firms produce this kind of asset, and we take on sales of this type across the conurbation and beyond. Our fee is agreed in writing before marketing starts.
Process plant with a short list of buyers
A twin shaft shredder or a large horizontal baler from a recycling yard in Openshaw has a narrow pool of buyers, mostly operators in the same trade, a good part of it within reach of the M60. A bottling or canning line from a drinks producer has a similar list, split between UK contract packers and dealers who export. Chemical process vessels, reactors and filling lines from the sites around Trafford Park have a smaller list again, and those buyers will want cleaning certificates before they travel.
In each case we approach the list directly with the full specification, photographs, hours and service history, and we run a sealed bid round where more than one party is interested. Stockport, Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale are close enough for a buyer to inspect in person, and the M62 and M56 give the rest of the country a road route.
Working around a site that is still trading
A private treaty sale here often runs while the business carries on around the machine. A recycling yard cannot stop taking material in because a baler is for sale. A food producer cannot shut a line down for a viewing day. So inspections are booked one buyer at a time, at hours you set, and the description carries enough detail that a serious buyer arrives knowing what they are looking at.
Removal is agreed in writing before the sale completes. What it takes is checked on site: vehicle access and room to turn, the loading arrangements, the door dimensions and the floor, on Trafford Park as much as on the older sites in the east. A buyer's rigger sees the route before they commit a price. Where a machine has to come out quickly, for a lease end or a site closure, it can be moved to our own premises and the sale continued from there.
What these sales can include
- CNC machining centres and lathes
- Printing presses
- Injection moulding machines
- Packaging lines
- Large generators and switchgear
- Cranes and heavy lifting equipment
- Specialist process plant
- Laboratory and test equipment
- Complete production cells
- Late model plant and vehicles
- Marine and rail equipment
- High value catering and bakery lines
How we market the asset
We inspect the asset, or have it inspected, and prepare a description with photographs, specification, condition and any service history. We then approach buyers directly: dealers who trade in that type of machine, and end users the asset suits. The asset can be advertised openly or offered only to selected parties. How open we are depends on how much confidentiality you need.
Interested buyers inspect by appointment. We attend or arrange access, answer questions and take offers. You are kept informed at each stage but do not have to deal with the buyers yourself.
There is no fixed end date. A private treaty sale takes as long as it takes to find the right buyer at the right price, which is one of its advantages and one of its costs.
The private treaty sales page covers when private treaty beats auction, how offers are handled, fees and what you receive, what to prepare.
Questions about selling in Manchester
- Do buyers want a decontamination certificate for chemical or food plant?
Yes, and it is worth having before we market it. A buyer of a reactor or a filling line will ask what it last held and whether it has been cleaned to a written standard. A cleaning certificate from your own team or a contractor, with the date and method, answers that question once for every buyer. Without it a buyer has more to allow for, and the questions come back later in the sale.
- Can you sell a whole recycling line as one lot by private treaty?
We can, and for a line that was installed as a system it is often the right call. A shredder, conveyor, screen and baler that were commissioned together are easier to place as one with an operator who wants the whole line than as four separate lots. We describe the line end to end, with throughput and installation details, and approach operators who run that type of plant. If no buyer wants all of it, we can split it and sell the main items separately.
More questions about private treaty
Related services
Guides
- Auction or private treaty: which route to choose
Auction gives you a fixed date and an open market. Private treaty gives you a negotiated price and privacy. This guide sets out when each route suits, what you give up with each, and why many sales use both.
- What happens to unsold lots
Not every lot sells, but the site still has to be cleared. This guide covers why lots go unsold, private treaty after the sale, lowering or removing the reserve, a later sale, scrap and WEEE recycling, and what disposal costs.