Company: COHN
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001437749-25-007158
Chunk: 310

Company: Cohen & Co Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-12
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 310
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ordinated notes outstanding. The Operating LLC will pay distributions to us in amounts necessary to satisfy our tax obligations and regularly scheduled payments of interest in connection with our junior subordinated notes, and we are dependent on these distributions from the Operating LLC in order to generate the funds necessary to meet these obligations and liabilities. Industry conditions and financial, business and other factors will affect our ability to generate the cash flows we need to make these distributions. There may be circumstances under which the Operating LLC may be restricted from paying dividends to us under applicable law or regulation (for example due to Delaware Limited Liability Company Act limitations on the Operating LLC’s ability to make distributions if liabilities of the Operating LLC after the distribution would exceed the value of the Operating LLC’s assets).

﻿As a holding company that does not conduct business operations in its own right, substantially all of the assets of the Company are comprised of our minority economic ownership interest in the Operating LLC. The Company’s ability to pay any dividends to our stockholders will be dependent on any distributions we receive from the Operating LLC and subject to the Operating LLC’s operating agreement (the “Operating LLC Agreement”). The amount and timing of distributions by the Operating LLC will be at the discretion of the Operating LLC’s board of managers, which is comprised of Daniel G. Cohen, our Executive Chairman and the majority owner of the Operating LLC, Lester Brafman, our Chief Executive Officer and Joseph W. Pooler, Jr., our Chief Financial Officer.

﻿Certain subsidiaries of the Operating LLC have restrictions on the withdrawal of capital and otherwise in making distributions and loans. JVB is subject to net capital restrictions imposed by the SEC and FINRA, which require certain minimum levels of net capital to remain in JVB. In addition, these restrictions could potentially impose notice requirements or limit the Company’s ability to withdraw capital above the required minimum amounts (excess capital) whether through distribution or loan. CCFESSA is regulated by the ACPR and must maintain certain minimum levels of capital.

Our failure to deal appropriately with actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest could damage our reputation and materially adversely affect our business.

As we have expanded the scope of our relating to our Advisory and Asset Management businesses, we increasingly confront actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest. It is possible that actual, potential or perceived conflicts could give rise to client dissatisfaction, litigation or regulatory enforcement actions. Identifying and managing actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest is difficult, and our reputation could be damaged if we fail to deal appropriately with one or more actual,