Soon, once-lost treasures of the Titanic may get new masters - hedge funds

Salvaged artifacts have been the focus of a tussle over who gets to own a part of the ocean liner's history. They're worth $19.5 million, at least.

Some of the richest people in the world lost everything when the Titanic sank. Now a consortium of new-money risk takers is poised to profit from turn-of-the-20th-century artifacts that curators had hoped to claim.

Three hedge funds banded together to submit a $19.5 million bid to buy the once-lost treasures of the ocean liner, thwarting a group of British museums backed by the National Geographic Society and James Cameron, who directed the 1997 movie “Titanic.” The museums could muster only $19.2 million and withdrew this month.

The new owners — Apollo Global Management, Alta Fundamental Advisers and PacBridge Capital Partners