Cowen Group, Inc.

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

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Cowen Group, Inc. is a diversified financial services company with two main business units: Ramius, which provides alternative investment management products; and Cowen and Company, which provides investment banking services. Cowen and Company focuses on small and midsized public companies as well as private companies in aerospace and defense, alternative energy, health care, consumer goods, and media and telecommunications. Investment banking services include M&A advisory, equity and debt financings, private placements, and restricted security sales. Cowen and Company also operates an institutional sales and trading unit that serves equity and fixed income clients and is a market maker in 1,500 U.S. equity securities. In addition, the firm has a research unit that covers more than 375 companies. The firm’s history can be traced back to 1918, when Harry Cowen and Arthur Cowen Sr. opened a small bond brokerage business in New York City. By the 1920s, the Cowens’ firm had joined the NYSE, and began offering clearing and execution services for correspondent clients.  Research and institutional sales were added in the 1960s, and the firm’s expertise in technology and health care dates to 1976, when Cowen bought Boston-based institutional research firm G.S. Grumman. Cowen’s reach went beyond U.S. borders in the 1980s with the opening of offices in London, Tokyo, Paris, and Geneva. The investment banking unit debuted in 1986, and just over a decade later, in 1998, Cowen was acquired by France’s Societe Generale. But the marriage didn't last long; by 2006, Cowen was an independent company once again, as SocGen agreed to spin off the investment bank. Cowen issued its IPO in July 2006, and in 2009, it agreed to merge with the hedge fund Ramius. Today, Cowen employs approximately 590 people.  It is led by Peter Cohen, who serves as chairman and CEO.