Cowen Group Announces the Expansion of its Salesand Trading Platform with New Hires

NEW YORK, Sep 28, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) —

Cowen Group, Inc. (“Cowen”) (NASDAQ: COWN) today announced that Keith
Kurzner and Kyle Solomon have joined the firm as Managing Directors and
Co-Heads of Institutional Options and Event Driven Strategies. In their
roles, Messrs. Kurzner and Solomon will be responsible for growing the
firm’s presence in institutional options and launching the Event Driven
Strategies Group, which will include both equity and options sales and
trading. They will be based in New York and will report to Tom O’Mara,
Cowen’s Head of Institutional Derivatives.

“We are delighted to welcome Keith and Kyle to Cowen,” commented Tom
O’Mara. “Both of these professionals have deep expertise and experience
with the institutional options product, and their leadership will prove
very helpful in our ongoing efforts to enhance this area of Cowen’s
sales and trading platform. We are also very excited to add the event
strategies capability, which we believe will augment our existing
business and allow us to serve a new set of clients as well.”

Mr. Kurzner and Mr. Solomon, who have been business partners for 17
years, recently worked at RBC Capital Markets and, prior to that, at
CIBC/Oppenheimer, where they were responsible for establishing and
leading similar businesses. Joining them to help build the effort is a
senior team which includes sales trading, trading and Event analysis.

About Cowen Group, Inc.

Cowen Group, Inc. is a leading diversified financial services firm
providing alternative investment management, investment banking,
research, and sales and trading services through its business units,
Ramius and Cowen and Company. Its alternative investment management
products include hedge funds, fund of funds, real estate funds,
healthcare royalty funds, cash management and commodity trading funds,
offered primarily under the Ramius name. Cowen and Company offers
industry focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies,
domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for
institutional investors. Founded in 1918, the firm is headquartered in
New York City and has offices located in major financial centers around
the world.

SOURCE: Cowen Group, Inc.

Sard Verbinnen & Co
Carissa Ramirez, 312-895-4701