Cygnus reached an agreement with 23 out of 24 secured lenders on a financial restructuring deal that will swap debt-equity for the company’s secured debt. However, an out of court deal required a unanimous decision and the hold-out lender pushed Cygnus to file a prepackaged bankruptcy plan in Delaware Bankruptcy Court, in the hopes of swiftly ushering in the restructuring plan. Under the plan, the company’s secured debt will be reduced from $180 million to $60 million, Folio reported.

Cygnus says it expects its plan to gain court approval in about 45 days, during which time its employees and vendors will be paid and business will continue as usual.

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The staff reductions, which affected the company in all areas including the editorial, sales, sales support and graphic design departments, represent 12 percent of Cygnus’s total workforce, the company said. There is no word on who exactly was let go, so if you have any information, email us or leave a note in the anonymous tip box.

And although magazines like Firehouse and Law Enforcement Technology and their corresponding Web sites continue to thrive — a Cygnus spokesperson said Firehouse.com and Officer.com each get 600,000 unique visitors a month — the company did suspend publication of four underperforming titles.

Cygnus would not confirm which titles were affected, but a source with knowledge of the matter told FishbowlNY that jewelry trades Modern Jeweler and Lustre were going to have their publication suspended, along with RV Trade Digest and Wood Digest.

“The final status of the properties most affected has not yet been determined; however a reduction in frequency of printed issues will occur,” Cygnus said in a statemnet. “Some of our groups are seeing signs that their markets are stabilizing — with requests even coming in for Q4 proposals. That’s a positive sign, similar to what the overall economy might be suggesting. But no one is projecting a rapid turnaround next year. Because of that, the decisions and steps taken today have positioned our operations, to the best of our knowledge and visibility, to remain sound this year and next year, should we not see some improvement in the economy.”

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