Singapore's GIC and OCBC's insurance arm have joined a group led by US private equity firms KKR and TPG that is buying Morgan Stanley's 34.3 percent stake in top Chinese investment bank China International Capital Corp (CICC), Reuters reported on Dec 2.

It is reported that the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, and another unnamed investor had joined the bid by KKR and TPG for Morgan Stanley's stake.

Bloomberg reported on Dec 2 that another member of the buyer group was Singapore's Great Eastern Holdings Ltd, the insurance company controlled by Overseas Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC).

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Morgan Stanley has been trying to sell its stake in CICC for several years now, and indicated as early as 2007 its intent to form a new investment banking joint venture with China Fortune Securities.

However, since China's securities rules forbid foreign companies from having more than one joint venture at a time in the country, it had to put those plans on hold pending the sale of its CICC stake.

Morgan Stanley is expected to get more than $1 billion for the stake, which it received for just $37 million when the venture was founded more than a decade ago.