<div><p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prudential Financial Inc <PRU.N> said on Thursday it completed the planned sale of its minority stake in a retail brokerage to Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N> for $4.5 billion in cash.</p><p>The second-largest U.S. life insurer also received $418.4 million in principal and interest on a note connected to the joint venture, according to a regulatory filing.</p><p>San Francisco-based bank Wells Fargo inherited a majority stake in the joint venture, originally agreed between Wachovia and Prudential, when it acquired Wachovia last year.</p><p>Prudential said earlier this month in a filing that it expected a gain on the sale of about $2.3 billion before tax, or $1.5 billion after tax.</p><p>Shares of Prudential were down 14 cents or 0.3 percent at $50.40 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.</p><p>(Reporting by Elinor Comlay, editing by Matthew Lewis)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=66178141&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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