Morgan Stanley is selling its 34.3% stake in China International Capital Corp. to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., TPG Capital, Singapore’s Great Eastern Holdings Ltd. and the island nation’s sovereign-wealth fund, four people with direct knowledge of the deal said.

Morgan Stanley plans to sell stakes of about 10% each to TPG and KKR, and about a 5% stake to Great Eastern, the insurance company controlled by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp., said the people, who declined to be identified because the matter isn’t public. Government of Singapore Investment Corp. will buy the remainder, the people said. The 34.3% stake is valued at about $1 billion, two of the people said.

The plan moves New York-based Morgan Stanley closer to ending its 15-year involvement in China International, known as CICC, the first investment bank formed by Chinese and non- Chinese firms. The sale would open the way for Morgan Stanley to find a new local partner or build its own investment bank in China after being a shareholder in Beijing-based CICC without having management control.

Great Eastern was originally in discussions with CICC to buy Morgan Stanley’s entire stake and the plan was blocked by Chinese regulators, said one of the people.

It’s Morgan Stanley’s second attempt to dispose of the holding. Talks with leveraged-buyout firms fell apart in early 2008 on disagreements about price, according to a South China Morning Post report at the time.