DELTA CEDES CTC MEDIA BLOCK

MOSCOW, February 7 (RIA Novosti) - The Delta Private Equity Partners, which is managing direct investment funds, has sold its 5% block of the CTC Media holding to a "major Western-based finance company", Delta PR announced today.

Its press release does not specify the purchaser.

The block went off at a price that exceeded the primary investment fourfold. The sale came as a 6th instance on which the Delta quit an investment project, and its second deal with a mammoth transnational strategic investor, says the release.

The primary investment mentioned roughly amounted to ten million US dollars, people on the Delta office said to Novosti in a telephone interview.

CTC telecasts involve more than 1,050 Russian urban and rural settlements, among them 98% of cities with population exceeding 100,000. The CTC increased its market share from 6.4% to 9.8% within the preceding three years, says the Delta.

The Delta became a CTC Media minor holder in 1996. The Alfa Group remains its biggest holder.