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CDB interested in Dresdner Bank

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-06 10:46

China Development Bank (CDB) is competing with Commerzbank AG to buy Allianz SE's Dresdner Bank, Germany's third-largest lender by assets, sources said.

China Development Bank, which funds the nation's public works projects, has conducted due diligence on Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt, said the sources, who declined to be identified because they aren't permitted to publicly discuss the matter.

Dresdner Bank may fetch as much as 9 billion euros, according to Merck Finck & Co, making it the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Chinese company. Spain's Banco Santander SA is also interested in Dresdner, for which Allianz paid 23.3 billion euros in 2001, the sources said.

Chinese companies and funds spent $19.3 billion buying stakes in Blackstone Group LP, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Plc, Fortis and Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group Ltd since May 2007. Those investments are now worth about $7 billion less on paper, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

China Development Bank has a $1.7 billion paper loss on its year-old investment in UK lender Barclays.

Commerzbank, Germany's second biggest bank by assets, is the most likely buyer as it's already studied the company's books and held talks with management, the sources said.

Dresdner Bank spokesman Martin Halusa declined to comment. China Development Bank spokesman Xu Fei said he wasn't immediately able to comment. Commerzbank spokesman Maximilian Bicker declined to comment, as did a Banco Santander spokesperson.

Dresdner would give a buyer 500 billion euros of assets, more than 1,000 branches and 6.3 million retail clients. Allianz wants to sell the securities unit Dresdner Kleinwort, which has contributed to more than 2.5 billion euros of subprime-related writedowns in the past year.

The German bank may be worth 8 billion to 9 billion euros, said Konrad Becker, a Munich-based analyst at Merck Finck. Allianz Chief Financial Officer Helmut Perlet in May estimated Dresdner Bank's book value at about 12 billion euros.

China Development was initially interested in Dresdner's securities unit and is now looking at the entire bank, including the retail business, after valuations fell, the sources said.

The Chinese bank paid $3.04 billion for about 3 percent of Barclays, the UK's third biggest lender, in July 2007. The investment was made to provide backing for Barclays' unsuccessful bid to acquire ABN Amro Holding NV. Since then, Barclays stock has tumbled 53 percent.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's $5.6 billion purchase of a stake in Standard Bank is the nation's biggest overseas acquisition to date.