CYGNUS BUSINESS MEDIA ACQUIRES REMAINING INTEREST IN SPENCER/CYGNUS.

Cygnus Business Media (Westport, CT), a unit of CommerceConnect Media, has acquired the remaing 51% interest of the Spencer/Cygnus Regional Print Network from Spencer Communications (Timonium, MD). No terms were given. The purchase gives Cygnus sole ownership of a group of four regional printing magazines and enables the company to integrate the titles into its Printing market segment, Cygnus said.

Spencer/Cygnus is a partnership established three years ago between Cygnus and Spencer Communications. The company publishes the controlled circulation monthly tabloid-format magazines Southern Graphics, distributed to 12,000 subscribers in 11 Southern states, Print & Graphics, distributed to 14,000 subscribers in 13 Northeastern states, Printing Views, a title with a distribution of 15,000 in 13 Midwestern states, and Printing Journal, with a circulation of 11,000 in 13 Western states. Each publication has an online counterpart.

Cygnus president/ceo Paul Mackler said that the original partnership "was a first step toward leveraging each company's print properties...This acquisition is simply the next evolution toward fully leveraging our Cygnus Graphics Network," including such titles as Modern Reprographics, Print On Demand and Quick Printing. Cygnus president Richard Reiff said that, because of the original partnership, the acquisition will "require very little in terms of assimilation and allow immediate integration into our current operations."