Cowen Group has agreed to acquire Concept Capital, an independent provider of prime brokerage services and the transaction has gained approval of the board of directors of both firms.

Details of financial terms were not disclosed but Cowen Group has a revealed that it expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in 2015.

“Concept Capital’s strong presence among emerging hedge fund clients complements Cowen’s focus on providing best-in-class products and services to institutional clients,” said Peter A Cohen, chairman and CEO of Cowen Group.

“Given the changing prime broker landscape, many investment managers are looking for alternative prime solutions and there are a limited number of organizations offering a similar kind of value proposition as Concept Capital on Cowen’s platform. 

Jeffrey M. Solomon, President of Cowen Group added, “By joining forces, we have an opportunity to grow with Concept's existing clients and further develop its competitive offering for an underserved part of the emerging investment manager community that is looking to outperform."

“We have found the ideal partner with Cowen,” said Michael S Rosen and Jack D Seibald, co-founders of Concept Capital. 

“We believe that our alignment with Cowen provides complementary strengths that will enable us to significantly enhance the breadth of services to our clients."

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher acted as legal advisor to Cowen and Seward & Kissel acted as legal advisor to Concept Capital on the acquisition.