Morgan Stanley holds out for better offers for CICC

Morgan Stanley has put the sale of its stake in mainland brokerage China International Capital Corp (CICC) to private equity bidders on hold, saying current offers for its 34.3% stake in CICC are too low, the Financial Times reported. Morgan Stanley, which plans to form a partnership with Fortune Securities in Shanghai, has been told by the central government that it cannot simultaneously be in two separate investment banking ventures in China. The US investment bank hopes to get at least US$1 billion for the CICC stake, whose potential bidders include private equity groups Bain Capital and TPG. The company has not given a deadline for the sale to take place.