FD Technologies Regulatory News (FDP)

1 Apr 2009 07:00



1 April 2009

First Derivatives plc

(AIM:FDP.L, IEX:GYQ.I)

Acquisition of Hologram

The Board of First Derivatives plc ("First Derivatives" or the "Company") announces that it has acquired Lepton Solutions Pty Limited (trading as "Hologram"), an Australian based technology company headquartered in Adelaide, for a total cash consideration of up to 2.2 million Australian dollars and 400,000 share options (the "Acquisition").  The Acquisition comprises an initial cash payment of 1.0 million Australian dollars.  In addition the four principals who own 96.4% of Hologram will receive 400,000 share options in First Derivatives (representing 2.9% of the Company's issued share capital). The share options vesting is subject to Hologram and its four principals achieving certain sales targets during the three years ending 31 March 2012. An additional deferred consideration to the four principals of Hologram, is payable, of up to a maximum of 1.2 million Australian dollars in cash.

Founded in 2004, with offices in Sydney and Adelaide, Hologram principals are leaders in the field of Risk Management and Stock Exchange Trading software. Risk management software developed by them was bought by Sungard and is in use in several hundred financial institutions and corporate treasuries worldwide. Their stock exchange trading system which is also currently in use in many stock exchanges around the world was sold to Computershare and is now owned by NASDAQ. In addition Hologram is the exclusive Australasian partner of Kx Systems in the financial services sector which complements First Derivatives exclusive partnership with Kx Systems in the financial services sector for North America, UK and Ireland.

The Acquisition grows First Derivatives existing presence in Asia Pacific and will help accelerate the Company's expansion by enhancing its global service offering. Hologram will also provide another channel to market for the Company's Delta product range for the Financial Services Sector in the areas of Algorithmic Trading, Market Data, Complex Event Processing (CEP) and Risk Management.

First Derivatives' CEO Brian Conlon said "The skills of Hologram's executive team complement those of First Derivatives extremely well and Hologram's product range will slot seamlessly into our Delta product suite. The Hologram principals have a track record of developing and marketing enterprise software in our domain and this expertise adds to our team of world class technology professionals. We continue to invest significant resources in research and development and the acquisition will help us expand our range of applications and adds corporate treasuries to our target customer base. The transaction is a coming together of two very like minded firms with a mutual emphasis on professionalism and a drive to produce market leading software."

Paul Phillips from Hologram said "We are excited about the opportunities that this transaction provides for Hologram. It gives us additional channels to market for our Treasury and Enterprise Risk Management systems and allows us to accelerate our plans by leveraging First Derivatives global presence and expertise in Kx technology. In addition we are looking forward to growing First Derivatives' sales and consulting presence in the Asia Pacific region and the acquisition will also enable us to expand our European operations in our Treasury Risk Consulting Business. 

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