New York City-based interactive marketing and design agency Special Ops Media (SOM) has been sold to European digital agency holding firm LBI. Over 2007 Special Ops realized gross billings of GBP 22.6 million (USD 22.3 million), net sales of GBP 5.1 million (USD 10.1 million) and EBIT of GBP 2 million (USD 4.0 million). The agency today has 64 employees.  The total purchase price will be in the range of $20M-45M, depending on future performance, with a mixture of cash and shares.

SOM was founded in 2002 by Jason Klein and Christian Anthony, and has done campaigns for clients such as Coca-Cola, MTV, NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), AMC, The Sundance Channel, Lionsgate Entertainment, Paramount, Universal Music Group, and others. Over 2007 SOM has gross billings of of $22.3 million, net sales of $10.1 million and EBITDA of $4.0 million. The agency today has 64 employees.

LBi has offices in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Berlin, London, Mumbai, New York, Paris and Stockholm, and is traded on Euronext in Amsterdam and as a Mid Cap company on the OMX Nordic Exchange in Stockholm. It had 2007 sales of about Euro 160 million. DeSilva and Phillips were the bankers on Special ops’ side (Disclaimer: our sponsor)