TD to Expand Investment Business with Cowen Acquisition

Acquisition will create an integrated North American dealer, significantly accelerating TD Securities' U.S. growth strategy

On Aug 3, 2022

Cherry Hill-based TD Bank Group has announced it will acquire Cowen Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.3 billion, accelerating its long-term growth strategy in the US by acquiring a high-quality and rapidly growing investment bank with outstanding talent and highly complementary products and services.

“Cowen is a leading independent dealer with a premier U.S. equities business and a strong, diversified investment bank that, when combined with TD Securities, will allow us to accelerate our strategic U.S. growth plans,” said Bharat Masrani, group president and CEO, TD Bank Group. “Most importantly, the acquisition will provide new capabilities and increased depth in key business lines to meet our clients’ needs and will allow us to leverage our combined expertise, talent, and integrated offerings across a much larger client base.”

With this acquisition, TD Securities will benefit from the addition of Cowen’s 1,700 talented colleagues and its leadership team. Once the transaction closes, Jeffrey Solomon, chair & CEO of Cowen, will join the senior leadership of TD Securities, reporting to Riaz Ahmed, president and CEO, TD Securities and Group Head, Wholesale Banking, TD Bank Group. To leverage the strength of Cowen’s brand, post-closing, parts of the combined business will be known as TD Cowen, a division of TD Securities, and will be headed by Solomon.

“At Cowen our success comes from striving to outperform in all we do by exceeding expectations and providing innovative solutions to, and partnering with, our clients. Taking this step will make us even stronger and more effective in serving their growing needs,” said Solomon. “The strategic decisions and focused investments that we have made over the last few years have positioned Cowen for this exciting next chapter of our growth. I look forward to having our exceptional talent and valued clients join the TD family. We plan to do great things together because we are aligned with our cultural values of vision, empathy, sustainability, and tenacious teamwork.”

“Together, we will have more than 6,500 professionals in 40 cities across the globe, extending our reach into new industry coverage areas and building even deeper, long-term client relationships,” added Ahmed. “I look forward to welcoming Jeff and his team to TD Securities and to the fantastic opportunities for growth we will create together.”

The combined firms’ pro-forma global revenues will increase by more than a third to approximately $6.8 billion1 with added advisory, capital markets, equity execution and industry-leading research capabilities and broadened expertise in key growth sectors. Following the closing of the transaction, TD Securities’ existing depth and breadth in global market research capabilities will benefit from Cowen’s complementary and highly diverse equity research franchise, which is positioned among the top 10 research platforms in the U.S. by both stocks under coverage and number of publishing analysts2 and includes considerable expertise in Environmental, Social and Governance research. Furthermore, TD Securities’ balance sheet and capital markets expertise are expected to bring immediate benefits to Cowen’s existing client base.

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