The rumors have been floating through the collector car community for several weeks that a group of key staffers had left RM Sotheby’s and were launching their own auction company, and now they have confirmed with the announcement of the Broad Arrow Group.
“Broad Arrow Group represents the collective vision of its founders to be the best advisor, marketplace and financier for car collectors,” chief executive Kenneth Ahn is quoted in the news release.
Ahn had been senior vice president of strategy and corporate development at Sotheby’s before being appointed as president of RM Sotheby’s as part of Sotheby’s acquisition of RM Auctions.
“With an estimated $25 billion worth of collector cars trading hands each year, the collector car industry is complex and highly fragmented with extraordinary amounts of both information and misinformation among participants,” he added. “Broad Arrow Group aims to transform the industry as the preeminent marketplace for collectors and enthusiasts.”
Joining Ahn at Broad Arrow is a long list of former RM Sotheby’s key employees, including Alain Squindo (chief operating officer), Ian Kelleher (chief marketing officer), Donnie Gould (car specialist), Barney Ruprecht (car specialist), Alexander Weaver (car specialist), Maddie Baker (director of client services) and Mike Mortorano (chief administrative officer and general counsel).
Also part of the new company, as of mid-January 2022, is Karsten Le Blanc, who will be chief financial offer. He was managing director of Credit Suisse AG and then headed his own UK-based collector car finance company.
The new auction house will be based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It has yet to announce a date for its first collector car auction, but has said it will do auctions, private sales and offer financial services.
RM Sotheby’s upcoming collector car auctions are scheduled for January 27 in Phoenix, February 2 in Paris, and for March 2022 at the Karl Lagerfeld Estate in Cologne, Germany.
