Chinese Buyer Interested In Part Of Dresdner Bank

Berlin, Germany (AHN) - A Chinese financial institution is interested in buying a stake in Germany's third largest bank. The news of a Chinese buy-in offer follows the announcement by Allianz, Dresdner Bank's parent company, that it will create two division out of Dresdner.

Manager Magazin said the first division would focus on retail banking and the second one specialize on investment banking. Detailed plans include merging Dresdner's private banking functions with another German bank, the Postbank, while its investment banking branch, Dresdner Kleinwort, would be sold.

The magazine said the Chinese firm has expressed interest in DK and sent Allianz an offer. Allianz purchased Dresdner Bank in 2001 to the tune of $37.9 billion (24 billion euro), but it has been unsuccessful to make it more competitive despite several restructuring efforts.

On February, Dresdner joined Citigroup and HSBC Holdings invest fresh capital into its $18.8 billion K2 structured investment vehicle that suffered because of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.