After Sotheby's is sold for $3.7bn, investors should bid on these other art market disruptors

Venerable auction house Sotheby's has been snapped up for $3.7bn, says Chris Carter. But there's plenty of action for investors at the other end of the art market too.

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Sotheby's goes private

French-Israeli telecoms billionaire Patrick Drahi is to pay $3.7bn for Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) , the New York-listed auction house through his holding company, BidFair. Investors will get $57 a share, representing a 61% premium on the most recent closing price. That's a lot of money for an old business, founded in London in 1744 especially one dealing in antiques. Multi-billion-dollar price tags are these days usually reserved for hot young tech stocks. But then again, the venerable auction house has been on something of a tear of late.

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

You can follow Chris on Instagram.