Top Moscow advertising company sold by under-fire Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch, under fire media mogul, is selling his Russian advertising company News Outdoor to investment bank VTB Capital.

News broke on Friday that a consortium including VTB Capital, Alfa Capital Partners and several private investors had closed a deal to buy the company.

“The deal was closed a few hours ago,” Peter Harvey, one of the minds behind the buy up, told RBC. He did not offer details of the agreement. According to one source, “on the whole the original structure of the transaction and its price have not changed,” the paper reported.

“The Board of Directors has appointed Yevgeny Senderov of VTB Capital as president of News Outdoor Russia,” a press release from the bank said

Murdoch was one of several international media figures that paid court to Russia’s burgeoning media industry in the topsy-turvy 1990s.

News Outdoor is a heavy hitter in the billboard advertising business. The advertising hoardings are strewn across the Russian capital and rake in $400 to $4,000 a month.

Departed mayor Yury Luzhkov was slated for his failure to bring widespread display advertising around town under control, they have become a significant source of income for mid-ranking city officials .

This now looks set to change, the bank said in a statement that the new management will, “interact with the federal and municipal authorities to implement programs aimed at improving the appearance of cities,” the press release said.

That comment is perhaps mindful of moves afoot in City Hall, where Luzhkov’s replacement Sergei Sobyanin is set to eliminate large-scale banner advertising.