Steve Cohen Group Buys Sports-Collectible Shop Goldin Auctions

(Bloomberg) -- An investment group led by hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen is buying Goldin Auctions, the premier auction house for sports collectibles, adding to their growing empire in the collectibles and alternative investments industry.

Collectors Holdings -- owned by Cohen, D1 Capital Partners' Dan Sundheim and health-care millionaire Nat Turner -- is buying Goldin Auctions, which collectible-industry veteran Ken Goldin founded in 2012. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, though the current owners of Goldin Auctions will get equity in the acquiring firm, according to Chief Executive Officer Ross Hoffman.

Goldin sold a majority stake in the company earlier this year to a group of investors led by the Chernin Group, in a deal that valued the firm at more than $40 million. Chernin installed Hoffman, a former Twitter Inc. executive, as CEO and made Goldin the executive chairman.

Goldin has sold more than $500 million worth of sports collectibles this year, a record for the company, and has emerged as the leading auction house in an exploding market. The larger collectibles industry is on track for more than $10 billion in sales this year.

Cohen, Sundheim and Turner formed Collectors Holdings to buy Collectors Universe, the owner of PSA, the top grading firm for sports trading cards. They closed that deal last November.

Money has flooded into the market for collectibles as wealthy individuals look to spread their money around into alternative assets like sneakers and trading cards. The market has also benefited from a new crop of younger investors who treat trading cards like a wager or a stock, betting on the cards of current players they believe will appreciate in the years ahead.

The industry has also attracted the attention of celebrities and global investors. YouTuber Logan Paul, basketball star Kevin Durant and billionaire Mark Cuban all invested in Goldin earlier this year.