Cygnus Business Media is putting its agriculture group up for sale, Folio: has learned. The group includes five tradeshows and two publications.
Corporate Solutions, an acquisition advisory firm, has been retained to help secure a buyer.
Cygnus CEO John French says in a statement that the sale will "provide us with an opportunity to improve our overall balance sheet and provide a substantial return to our ownership group."
The assets, he says, are profitable and the group is a "discrete business." A sale would not adversely impact the other affinity groups within the company.
The remainder of the company is not on the market.
One obvious, but not confirmed, bidder would be Penton, which just spent $80 million on Farm Progress Companies last November.
UPDATE: According to French, Cygnus's balance sheet is in good shape, but after increasing interest from other parties in buying the group, and a well-performing agriculture market, the time became right to sell.