Morgan Stanley Comes to L.A.

Reflecting the growing importance of Southern California as an investment banking center, Morgan Stanley & Co. on Monday plans to open a full-service regional office in Los Angeles.

The New York-based firm, one of the nation’s leading investment bankers, said the move is motivated in part by a desire to be closer to its many West Coast clients. These clients include such prominent California firms as Apple Computer Inc., CalFed Inc., Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., Chevron Corp., Walt Disney Productions and Pacific Lighting Corp.

“While we have been doing business in the West for a long time . . . we will now be able to more fully develop opportunities in this important, growing market,” said Bowen H. McCoy, a Morgan Stanley managing director and head of its Western regional operations, to be based in the new Los Angeles office.

The new office also comes in recognition of Los Angeles as one of the nation’s most active areas for mergers and acquisitions, real estate and the savings and loan industry, Morgan Stanley said. The regional office also will enhance Morgan Stanley’s Pacific Rim activities and will enable the firm to complement its existing San Francisco office in underwriting high-technology issues.

The Los Angeles office initially will have a staff of 50, offering services in investment banking, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, individual investor services, mortgage-backed securities and real estate. The office will be located at 515 S. Figueroa St.