NEW YORK - Wells Fargo & Co said on Monday it would buy Prudential Financial Inc's minority stake in retail brokerage joint venture Wells Fargo Advisors for cash, instead of cash and stock as it planned earlier.

The move comes as Wells Fargo said separately that it will repay the entire $25 billion it received from the government under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, after selling $10.4 billion of common shares.

Prudential and Wachovia Corp, which was acquired by Wells Fargo, combined their retail brokerages in 2003, with Wachovia taking a 62 percent stake in the joint venture and Prudential taking the rest.

In selling the stake, Prudential is exercising an option it received when Wachovia bought brokerage A.G. Edwards Inc. (Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Wells fargo Wachovia Investment