HONG KONG, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Three U.S. private equity firms have been shortlisted in the final round of bidding for Morgan Stanley's (MS.N) more than $1 billion stake in China International Capital Corp, a holding the Wall Street bank has been trying to sell since late 2007.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co [KKR.UL], Bain Capital and TPG Capital [TPG.UL] are competing against each other to win the chance to acquire a stake in China's best known and most profitable investment bank.
Morgan Stanley, which paid just $37 million for the shares when CICC was founded in 1995, declined to comment. The private equity firms declined to comment or could not be reached.
CICC is headed by Levin Zhu, son of former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. Zhu, when reached by Reuters in Davos, Switzerland, declined to comment on the matter as he claimed he was not involved in the process.
The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak the media.
