Kidder Peabody Is Adding 4 to Investment Banking Staff in L.A.

In a move that reflects a growing interest on the part of New York investment firms in Los Angeles, Kidder Peabody said Wednesday that it is boosting the size of its investment banking staff.

The company said it is adding four people to the Los Angeles investment banking staff, bringing the total to five. After the expansion, Kidder’s presence in Los Angeles will still be small compared to such competitors as Drexel Burnham Lambert, which has about 60 investment bankers who concentrate on corporate finance.

Those joining Kidder Peabody are Carl T. White, formerly a vice president with First Boston; Jeffrey V. Peterson, a former associate director at Bear Stearns; Steven B. Sebastian, a vice president with Kidder in New York, and Edward Levy, a mergers and acquisitions specialist at Kidder’s New York office.

White, who will be a managing director with Kidder, resigned from First Boston in June. He founded First Boston’s Los Angeles office and worked mainly on deals that involved large industrial companies and financial institutions, such as banks and savings and loan firms.

Peterson was named a vice president at Kidder.

First Boston, which has nine bankers in Los Angeles involved in corporate finance or merger work, had no comment on White’s move to Kidder. First Boston said it also is expanding here and will add three more bankers by January.

William M. Caldwell, the Kidder vice president who is now the firm’s only investment banker in Los Angeles, said the firm is expanding because “we see big opportunities on the West Coast.” He continued, “We also realize that to be a viable competitor, we have to have a major presence in L.A.”