French bank BNP Paribas and La Caixa, Spain's largest savings bank, have been shortlisted to buy Morgan Stanley's private banking division in Spain, according to Dow Jones. The sale of the private banking unit, which has around €8 billion in assets under management, is expected to realise €500 million ($734 million) to €600 million and could be concluded by the end of January. Morgan Stanley is one of several global banks that have sold stakes to Asian or Middle Eastern investors and are considering selling assets to raise fresh capital in the face of multi-billion write-downs related to the credit crisis. Last month Morgan Stanley received a $5 billion capital injection by selling a 9.9 per cent stake to China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund, after reporting a $9.4 billion write-down for its fiscal fourth quarter on US subprime and other mortgage investments. La Caixa, which is seeking to expand with a focus on financial services companies, would purchase the division through its Criteria CaixaCorp investment vehicle. BNP Paribas private bank ranks among Europe's top 10 in terms of assets under management and last year completed the acquisition of Dexia's French private banking activities. Dow Jones said La Caixa, BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.