Cowen Inc., is an American multinational independent

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

and financial services company that operates through two business segments: a broker-dealer and an investment management division. The company's broker-dealer division offers investment banking services, equity and credit research, sales and trading, global prime brokerage, outsourced trading, global clearing and commission management services. Cowen's investment management segment offers actively managed alternative investment products. Founded in 1918, the firm is headquartered in New York and has offices worldwide. Cowen claims it is known for successfully identifying emerging industries early on, especially the emerging

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

industry. On August 2, 2022,

Toronto-Dominion Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. T ...

announced it would acquire Cowen for US$1.3 billion.

History

Founded as a bond trading house, Cowen expanded in its early years to include correspondent clearing and execution services. As the firm grew, it developed a leadership position in

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

bonds and launched a

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and institutional sales business. The firm expanded significantly in the 1970s in

and

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

, opening six offices from coast-to-coast and expanding its business offerings through acquisitions: Hardy & Company; Greene & Ladd; G.S. Grumman; and McCloy-Watterson & Co., Inc. In the 1980s, Cowen expanded internationally, established an investment banking business, and set up offices in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. In the 1990s, the firm grew the investment banking business, beginning with five

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

s and follow-ons for approximately $200 million, growing to nearly 80 transactions and $5 billion in proceeds by 1995. In 1998, the company was acquired by

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English as SocGen (), is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense. Société Générale ...

and renamed SG Cowen. In 2000, Cowen sold its private client services unit to

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...

, retaining its investment banking,

and

sales and trading Sales and trading is one of the primary front-office divisions of major investment banks. The term is typically reserved for the trading activities done by sell-side investment banks who are primarily engaged in making markets for institutional cli ...

operations. Cowen operated as a unit of Societe Generale until 2006, when it was spun off in an

and renamed itself, Cowen and Company. The public offering was joint bookrun by Cowen, Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch. On August 2, 2022,

announced it had reached an agreement with Cowen to acquire it for US$1.3billion, translating to $39 per share. TD announced that Cowen chair and CEO Jeffrey Solomon would join the senior leadership of TD's securities division following the acquisition, and that the combined business will be known as TD Cowen, headed by Solomon.

Growth acquisitions

• In 2009, the company merged with Ramius LLC to form a diversified financial services company. • In February 2011, Cowen acquired LaBranche & Co., a market-maker in options,

exchange-traded funds An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges. ETFs are similar in many ways to mutual funds, except that ETFs are bought and sold from other owners throughout the ...

and

futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...

on various exchanges for around $200 million. • In 2012, Cowen acquired Algorithmic Trading Management, a provider of global multi-asset class algorithmic execution trading models, and KDC Securities, a

securities lending In finance, securities lending or stock lending refers to the lending of securities by one party to another. The terms of the loan will be governed by a "Securities Lending Agreement", which requires that the borrower provides the lender with c ...

business. • In March 2013, Cowen acquired Dahlman Rose & Company LLC. • In 2015, Cowen entered the prime services business with the acquisitions of Concept Capital Markets and Conifer Securities. • In 2015, Cowen acquired CRT Capital Group's credit products, credit research, special situations and

emerging markets An emerging market (or an emerging country or an emerging economy) is a market that has some characteristics of a developed market, but does not fully meet its standards. This includes markets that may become developed markets in the future or wer ...

businesses. • In 2017, Cowen acquired Convergex, a leading agency-focused

brokerage firm A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

and trading services provider whose businesses include: equity sales and an

electronic trading platform In finance, an electronic trading platform also known as an online trading platform, is a computer software program that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. Various financial products ...

, commission management, global clearing and prime services. • In 2018 Cowen announced the acquisition of Quarton International, a middle-market investment banking firm.

Operations

Cowen and Company

Cowen and Company, founded in 1918, is the broker-dealer business of Cowen Inc. Cowen and Company offers a range of investment banking services, including: equity, equity-linked and debt financing's,

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

and advisory services. Cowen and Company also provides proprietary research, including its ''Ahead of the Curve'' series, institutional sales and trading services and prime brokerage. Cowen and Company specializes in growth sectors of the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

, including:

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

, health care,

industrials Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a rang ...

, info tech & services, and technology, media & telecommunications. Business units include: * Investment Banking *

Research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

Market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

s *Prime Services

Cowen Investment Management

Cowen Investment Management, founded in 1994 as Ramius, by

Peter Cohen Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, Jeff Solomon, Morgan Stark, and Tom Strauss, is the global alternative investment management business of Cowen Inc. Cowen Investment Management offers a range of alternative investment strategies including private health care, health care royalties,

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, activism, merger and long/short equity, and

growth equity Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new mark ...

. Cowen Investment Management oversees $11 billion in assets under management as of Q1/2018.

References

External links

* {{authority control, state=expanded Investment banks in the United States Financial services companies established in 1918 Banks established in 1918 Banks based in New York City Companies listed on the Nasdaq 2006 initial public offerings 1918 establishments in New York (state) Announced mergers and acquisitions