COMMERCECONNECT MEDIA TO ACQUIRE CYGNUS BUSINESS MEDIA.CommerceConnect Media (Westport, CT) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cygnus Business Media Cygnus Business Media is an American magazine publisher, internet information developer, exposition management provider and custom marketing services company. It was founded in 1966 with the initial acquisition of Photo Trade News, a magazine founded in 1937 which continues to (St. Petersburg, FL & Melville, NY) from management and investors, including Cygnus ceo/chairman Gerry Hogan, president Blair Schmidt-Fellner and investment firm Kelso & Co. (New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of ), for $275 million in cash. The deal is expected to close June 14. Cygnus is projected to have revenue of $96 million this year, up 17% from the $82 million reported in 1998, and employs over 430 people in New York, Minnesota (Cygnus Expositions) and Wisconsin (Johnson Hill Press). The company has 141 unique properties, including 48 trade magazines, 16 trade shows and conferences, 17 custom publications and 60 Web sites. It claims leading positions in eight major markets, including imaging, public safety, transportation, construction equipment, shelter, agriculture and food, retail and technology. The company was originally established in 1937 and produced a handful of photographic trade magazines until it was purchased as PTN PTN - Physical Transport Network Publishing by Stanley Sills, Chase Venture Partners and Golder, Thoma, Cressy and Rauner, Inc. in 1987. After a long string of acquisitions, the partnership sold PTN to Cygnus Publishing, a company formed for the purpose of acquiring media properties, in 1997 for an estimated $100 million. At the time of the sale to Cygnus, PTN produced 52 trade magazines, ten custom magazines and three trade shows. CommerceConnect Media was launched in October 1999 and is a partnership between former Reed Exhibition Company president and CommerceConnect ceo Paul Mackler and investment firm ABRY Partners ABRY Partners is a private equity firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that focuses on investments in media. Since 1989, the firm has completed over $18.0 billion of leveraged transactions and other private equity and mezzanine investments, representing investments in more (Boston, MA). Mackler said that "since inception, CommerceConnect's mission has been to identify and acquire the ideal platform company from which to build a leading, diversified B2B (Business to Business) Refers to one business communicating with or selling to another. See B2B e-commerce, B2C and B2G. B2B - business to business media company. Cygnus offers that platform with a wide array of targeted media products, including print, live and interactive media." ABRY's investments include Avalon Cable, Citadel Communications
Citadel Communications is a Bronxville, NY-based broadcaster that owns 4 television stations, including: DMA Rank Market Station ... , Connoisseur Communications, Muzak, Nexstar Broadcasting, Pinnacle Towers, and Quorum A majority of an entire body; e.g., a quorum of a legislative assembly. A quorum is the minimum number of people who must be present to pass a law, make a judgment, or conduct business. Broadcasting. The company said it has no plans to consolidate any of Cygnus' major operating units. |
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