Cowen Group Inc. announced the formation of a REIT research team, broadening the capabilities of Cowen's Research Group. The team will be led by James W. Sullivan and includes Michael P. Gorman and Stephen N. Boyd. The team will be based in New York reporting to Barry Tarasoff, Head of Research for Cowen and Company. Mr. Sullivan was most recently Managing Director, Senior Real Estate Analyst at Prudential Financial, a position he held for 13 years. Mr. Gorman was most recently a Senior Financial and Real Estate Analyst in the REIT practice at Gerson Lehrman. Mr. Boyd was recently an Equity Research Analyst with Polen Capital Management, LLC.

Cowen Group Inc. announced that on November 2, 2009, it had completed the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Agreement and Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of June 3, 2009, by and among the Company, Cowen Holdings Inc., Lexington Merger Corp., Ramius LLC and RCG Holdings LLC. Pursuant to the Transaction Agreement, the certificate of incorporation and by-laws of the Company were amended and restated upon the closing of the Transactions. On November 2, 2009, the company entered into a secured revolving credit agreement with HVB AG, as administrative agent, issuing bank, fronting lender and a lender. The Credit Agreement provides a secured, revolving loan facility of up to $50 million, including a $7 million sub-facility for existing letters of credit. On January 4, 2010, the commitment automatically reduces from $50 million to $25 million and remains at $25 million until maturity. The stated maturity date is September 29, 2011. The Credit Agreement may not be terminated by the company prior to the stated maturity date, even if there are no amounts outstanding thereunder and even if the total commitments thereunder have been permanently reduced to zero.

Ramius and Cowen Group have successfully completed their business combination, following November 2, 2009 approval of the transaction at a special meeting of stockholders and the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. The new company will retain the Cowen Group name and the common stock of the combined company will continue to trade on NASDAQ under the symbol 'COWN.' Cowen Group now comprises two business units. The Ramius business unit will operate the combined company's alternative investment management business while the Cowen and Company business until will continue to run the company's growth-oriented investment banking franchise and its research and brokerage capabilities. Peter Cohen, former founder and managing member of Ramius, will serve as chairman and CEO of Cowen Group. Greg Malcolm will remain CEO and president of Cowen and Company. Morgan Stark, former Ramius managing member, will be CEO of Ramius' Alternative Investments, the internally managed alternative investment fund business. Tom Strauss, former Ramius managing member, will continue to be CEO of the Ramius Fund of Funds Group. Cohen, Malcolm, Stark and Strauss will serve on Cowen's newly formed executive committee. The company has also formed a combined operating committee consisting of business unit and infrastructure leaders as well as a dedicated investment committee responsible for reviewing all strategic and firm-wide capital commitment decisions. Cowen's board of directors has 10 members. In addition to Cohen and Malcolm, it includes Jules Kroll, JEMKroll Group, founder of Kroll Inc. and chairman of K2 Global Partners; Jerome Markowitz, senior partner of Conifer Securities; Jack Nusbaum, chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher; L Thomas Richards, MD, physician UCSF Medical Center; Edoardo Spezzotti, senior executive vice president of Unicredit; John Toffolon, board of directors of Westway Group; Charles Wardell III, senior client partner of Korn/Ferry; and Joseph Wright, CEO Of Scientific Games Corp.