HONG KONG—Morgan Stanley is set to increase its stake in its brokerage joint venture in China by 4.06 percent to 94 percent, an exchange filing showed on Wednesday, putting it on track to take full ownership of the business.
The U.S. bank will inject 698 million yuan (about $110 million) to boost the registered capital of the unit, a venture formed by Morgan Stanley and China Fortune Securities Co. in 2011, to 1.71 billion yuan (about $268.3 million), according to an exchange filing by China Fortune.
The Shanghai-based state-owned company said on Wednesday that it had decided to sit out the capital injection, which effectively allows its ownership to dilute to 5.94 percent from the previous 10 percent.
The change requires the approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and other government authorities.
When asked, Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The Wall Street bank acquired 39 percent of the joint venture from China Fortune in July, taking its ownership to 90 percent. It rebranded the unit as Morgan Stanley Securities China Co. Ltd.
Global banks and asset managers have been boosting their stakes in their Chinese joint ventures since China first permitted foreign-majority ownership in some financial businesses in 2019.
Eight international banks have become the majority shareholders of their brokerage joint ventures in China.
