Sources: Wasserstein is Cygnus Buyer

It appears that there is some truth to the Cygnus sale rumors, and at a rocky time for magazine M&A.

According to sources with knowledge of the process, the due diligence phase is complete and a verbal agreement has been reached between Penton Media parent Wasserstein & Co. and ABRY Partners on the acquisition of Cygnus Business Media. The deal is expected to close before the end of the month.

The final sale price for Cygnus was not immediately clear. It had been estimated that the company was seeking $200 million to $240 million, or about 8x estimated EBITDA.

A Cygnus spokesperson declined to comment.

In a June interview with FOLIO:, Cygnus co-CEOs Carr Davis and Tony O'Brien indicated that the company was exploring a potential sale. Cygnus went on the block in 2006 but subsequently pulled off the market that year.

The news comes about two weeks after the deal that would have had Texas-based private equity firm Austin Ventures acquiring Entrepreneur Media failed, in part, because of the difficult credit market.

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