A clear conviction.
"The clients who need the best financial advice the most are not always the ones who get it."
Cohen Capital Markets was founded in New York City with a clear conviction. Boutique firms serving the middle market and family-owned businesses are often outgunned by the institutional resources of their counterparties — large investment banks, private equity sponsors, and sophisticated creditors who do this every day. We exist to level that playing field.
The firm operates as a partnership of senior advisors. Partners run engagements, in the room, from the first conversation through close. The bench beneath the partners is built deliberately — analyst-up, with no shortcuts on the standard of work the partners require to bring their name to a transaction.
Deliberately simple.
Our model is deliberately simple. We take no principal positions, run no trading desk, and have no retail brokerage or asset management business that creates conflicts with our advisory work. Every engagement we accept is evaluated on its merits, and every recommendation we make reflects our honest assessment of your best interests — unconstrained by what else we might want to sell you.
The independence is structural, not aspirational. The firm holds no inventory we need to clear. We earn nothing on the side of a transaction we are advising against. The bench is small enough that every engagement receives partner attention; large enough that no engagement is staffed past the point of senior judgment.
Our fee structure is engagement-specific and discussed transparently at the outset. Most advisory mandates involve a monthly retainer combined with a success fee tied to the value created at transaction close. We do not charge success fees on engagements where we do not create value, and we do not believe in fee structures that misalign our interests with yours.
Three Principles.
Independence.
We have no proprietary trading desk, no retail brokerage, and no investment banking cross-selling pressure — only your interests. Our advice is unconstrained by what else we might want to sell you, which is the only way to give advice worth taking.
Discretion.
Every engagement is conducted with strict confidentiality. Our clients trust us with sensitive strategic and financial information, and we protect that trust absolutely — during an engagement, after it concludes, and permanently.
Excellence.
We maintain the analytical and process standards of the most demanding institutional clients because we believe every client deserves that level of rigor and attention, regardless of transaction size or firm profile.
Independent counsel, wherever the transaction requires.
Our advisory work spans North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & North Africa. We have advised on transactions with counterparties across the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and the Gulf — and travel to our clients and their counterparties wherever the work requires.
While our team is headquartered in New York City, distance does not diminish the quality of our work. We do not outsource the senior attention that complex cross-border situations demand.
Five client profiles.
What they share is a meaningful strategic or financial decision that warrants experienced, independent counsel.
From the first conversation, through close.
Preliminary Conversation
Every engagement starts with a confidential, preliminary conversation at no cost or obligation. We tell you honestly whether and how we can be useful — before any agreement is signed.
Engagement Letter
If the work is right for the firm, we propose a tailored engagement structure — typically a monthly retainer plus a success fee aligned to value created at close. The letter is the agreement.
Partner-Led Diligence
The partner who answered the first call is in the room for diligence. The analytical bench is small, deliberate, and operates under the partner's direct supervision.
Execution and Close
The same team runs the process from outreach through documentation and close. There is no handoff. The senior judgment that opened the engagement carries through to the signature.
The partner who answers the first call is in the room at close.
Six advisory practices. Nine industry verticals.
Strategic Consulting · M&A Advisory · IPO Readiness · Capital Formation · Cross-Border Transactions · Restructuring & Turnaround. Each practice carries the same standard of partner-level attention and the same discipline of independence.
"The partner who answers the first call is in the room at close."
— The firm's standing commitment