First Derivatives pays $6-20M for Market Resource of Phila

  First Derivatives Plc, a software consulting company based in Newry, Northern Ireland, says it's bought Market Resource Partner LLC, 1880 JFK Blvd. in Philadelphia, which runs marketing and sales program for software service firms, for $4.5M cash, $1.5M stock, and up to $14M in future profit-based payments. 
  First Derivatives, which focuses on investment banks, will keep First Derivatives' Philadelphia HQ and 100 jobs, and make it their U.S. base, said Brian Conlon, the Irish company's chief executive.
  Owners Kevin Cunningham, Jim Regan and Jack Butler built Market Resource, starting in 2002, and won federal Small Business Association financing through Citizens Bank in 2007. "We started with $1,000 each. We worked out of our apartments," said Regan. He and Cunningham met at Holy Ghost Prep in Bensalem. Regan went to LaSalle and took a marketing job at Merck; Cunningham went to Delaware and was a Price Waterhouse consultant. Butler is an MBA who used to in work sales operations for Johnson & Johnson. 
  How'd they find First Derivatives? "My dad's from Newry. We knew them personally," said Cunningham.
  Market Resource clients include Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Cisco.  "We're very keen to retain the structure and the management team that they have in place, and these guys and our shareholders will benefit from building the business up," said First Derivatives' Conlon. "We have clients in the U.S., but this is our first physical presence. Philadelphia is attractive because of its proximity to New York, our biggest market. The cost of headcount and desk is exorbitant on Wall Street compared to Philadelphia. But it's only an hour away by train."