Liquidity Services Inc., a provider of online marketplaces and services to help corporations, retailers and manufacturers sell returned or surplus goods, has purchased GoIndustry DoveBid plc, a company that provides similar services, for $31 million.

Liquidity Services says the deal will provide it with an additional 50 large clients, while also adding more global sellers and offices to its business.

GoIndustry works with global manufacturers and corporations across multiple industries, including consumer packaged goods, electronics and technology. Its clients include Bosch, Honeywell and automotive companies Ford-Europe, Renault and Visteon.

Liquidity Services says the purchase will help it extend its surplus asset management services to large enterprises across North America, Europe and Asia. With offices in more than 20 countries combined, Liquidity Services and GoIndustry will also provide services to help companies comply with international rules and regulations when selling globally.

The acquisition also adds more than 458,000 professional buyers and more than 1,000 annual online sales events on the go-dove.com web site to Liquidity Services’ portfolio.

“This strategic combination expands our seller base across complementary market segments, enables us to offer important new services and broader global coverage to our existing sellers, and grows the buyer base for our online marketplaces,” says Bill Angrick, chairman and CEO of Liquidity Services. “Our combined offering will enable corporations to efficiently manage, value, redeploy and sell surplus and idle equipment around the globe with a uniformly high level of service and transparency.”

Liquidity Services was founded in 1999 and serves three markets: industrial capital assets, retail supply chain and the public sector. GoIndustry’s 2011 gross merchandise sales volume totaled $211 million. The two companies together have more than 1,000 employees.