Stream Global Services, an Eagan-based call services company, has acquired U.K.-based LBM Holdings Limited, a company with six call centers and 2,500 employees.

It's a significant acquisition for Stream Global, which has 37,000 employees — about 350 of them in Eagan — and more than 50 call centers in 22 countries. According to a corporate filing, the transaction is valued at approximately £29 million or $43.9 million.

LBM specializes in demand and lead generation services while Stream Global is a global business process outsource services provider that specializes in sales, technical support and customer care. Stream Global's clients are primarily Fortune 1000 companies.

Stream Global is owned by private equity firms and went private in 2012. The company has $860 million in annual sales, up $13 million or 2 percent from 2011, and adjusted cash flow of $101 million, up 14 percent in 2012.

"This transaction is about delivering greater value to our clients and long-term growth for our company," said Stream Chairman and CEO Kathy Marinello in a statement. "LBM has proven experience in creating highly precise target lists of people who will be more inclined to buy products and services."

There is little client overlap between the two companies. Joe Thornton, a spokesman for Stream Global, said LBM is "an innovative company that layers nicely with what we do globally."

This is the first major acquisition by Stream Global since Marinello, a former CEO of Bloomington-based Ceridian Corp., was named CEO of Stream in August 2010.

Peter Ryan, lead analyst for information technology services for Ovum, a London-based research company, wrote of the acquisition, "This move also highlights that Stream Global Services is not sitting on the sidelines, and is more willing than any time in recent memory to take on new regional opportunities."

Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926