Credit Suisse First Boston Names New Western Co-Chief

Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. is expected to announce today that Peter G. Allen has joined Robert J. Levitt as co-chief of the firm’s Western region investment banking group, based in Los Angeles.

Allen, 40, was formerly a managing director with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. in Los Angeles. He will oversee the region with Levitt, 41, a managing director of investment banking with CS First Boston in Los Angeles.

During the last 10 years, Allen has worked on more than $150 billion of mergers and acquisitions. His clients include Atlantic Richfield Co., Occidental Petroleum Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., Walt Disney Co. and SunAmerica Inc.

“With the addition of Peter Allen to our West Coast team, we have the additional skills . . . to complement the capabilities of our current team of almost 50 people,” said Charles G. Ward III, head of global corporate and investment banking for CS First Boston in New York.

The Wall Street firm has rapidly expanded its investment banking operations this year, most recently by hiring investment banker Frank Quattrone and about 150 members of the technology investment banking practice from Deutsche Bank Securities. Many of those bankers and analysts are in the firm’s Palo Alto offices.