NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jul. 15, 2015– Cowen Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:COWN) (“Cowen” or the “Company”) and Concept Capital Markets, LLC (“Concept Capital”) today announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which Cowen will acquire Concept Capital, a leading independent provider of prime brokerage services. While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Cowen Group expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in 2015. The transaction was approved by the board of directors of both companies.
“Concept Capital’s strong presence among emerging hedge fund clients complements Cowen’s focus on providing best-in-class products and services to institutional clients,” said Peter A. Cohen, Chairman and CEO of Cowen Group. “Given the changing prime broker landscape, many investment managers are looking for alternative prime solutions and there are a limited number of organizations offering a similar kind of value proposition as Concept Capital on Cowen’s platform. Combining Concept Capital with Cowen’s business will allow us to better service these funds by providing focused prime broker services, supported by non-conflicted trade execution and world-class equity research.”
Jeffrey M. Solomon, President of Cowen Group added, “Concept Capital has proven to be a value added partner to its client base for a number of years. By joining forces, we have an opportunity to grow with Concept’s existing clients and further develop its competitive offering for an underserved part of the emerging investment manager community that is looking to outperform. In addition, Concept’s clients will benefit from access to Cowen’s high quality institutional equity research, investment conferences, and suite of electronic products. We believe this represents a compelling opportunity to deliver our premier institutional products and services as a value-added partner that is invested in helping clients produce long-term investment outperformance.”
“We have found the ideal partner with Cowen,” said Michael S. Rosen and Jack D. Seibald, Co-Founders of Concept Capital. “Cowen and Concept Capital share the same values, including a commitment to putting clients first. This transaction is a unique opportunity to align with a well-respected financial services organization that understands our client’s needs from the standpoint of a client. We believe that our alignment with Cowen provides complementary strengths that will enable us to significantly enhance the breadth of services to our clients. Importantly, the transaction will not impact client accounts held with our various clearing firms, nor the manner in which clients are served day to day.”
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP acted as legal advisor to Cowen and Seward & Kissel LLP acted as legal advisor to Concept Capital on this transaction.