Cowen Group, parent of Cowen and Company, announced that it has formed Cowen Finance, a commercial finance company. Cowen expects to make an initial equity investment of up to $125 million in Cowen Finance, with this investment funded by Cowen over time. Cowen Finance will work together with Cowen and Company’s investment banking and debt capital markets businesses.

Peter A. Cohen, chairman and chief executive officer of Cowen Group, said, “Our move into direct lending is a natural extension of our success at providing clients with debt capital markets financing advice over the past few years. As investment professionals, we have a long history of investing our balance sheet where we see attractive returns on capital from driving growth in our operating businesses.

Jeffrey M. Solomon, president of Cowen Group, said, “Given the diminished lending appetite by traditional banks into the middle market, companies and financial sponsors have expressed their need for a broader range of lending solutions. With the launching of Cowen Finance, we have a unique opportunity to meet this need by partnering with our investment banking and capital markets division to provide additional financing solutions to our clients.

Cowen Finance’s lending and risk activities will be managed separately from the investment bank as a wholly owned subsidiary of Cowen Group.