First Derivatives acquires Australian firm for €1.15m

IRISH technology company First Derivatives has acquired Australian software provider, Lepton Solutions for Aus$2.2 million (€1.15m).

First Derivatives — which has its headquarters in Newry, Co Down — specialises in software support services for hedge fund administrators and investment banks.

The acquisition of Lepton (which trades under the name Hologram) adds a suite of risk management and stock exchange trading software tools to First Derivatives’s arsenal.

The details of the transaction also include a share option for Hologram’s four main shareholders, who will jointly receive 400,000 share options in the Irish company, representing 2.9% of its issued share capital.

This acquisition is First Derivatives’s second and its first foray into the market since last September when it spent US$20m (e14.09m) on buying Philadelphia-based company, Marketing Resource Partners (MRP), which develops sales and marketing programmes for software and technology services firms.

Since then, the Newry firm — with the aid of Invest NI — has added 140 to its workforce, with the jobs coming on stream over the coming two years.

First Derivatives chief executive Brian Conlon said last year that the company was actively looking to the Australasian region for acquisition opportunities.

“The acquisition will help us expand our range of applications and adds corporate treasuries to our target customer base,” he said yesterday.