China Development Bank (CDB) is in the running to buy Dresdner Bank, Germany’s third-largest lender by assets, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The Chinese policy bank, which funds public works projects but is looking to become a fully-fledged commercial operator, is said to have conducted due diligence on Frankfurt-based Dresdner. Commerzbank AG is also interested in Dresdner, which was bought by Allianz SE for US$36.6 billion in 2001. Dresdner has assets worth more than US$770 billion, 1,000 branches and 6.3 million retail clients. Allianz only wants to sell the bank’s securities unit, which has suffered as a result of the subprime crisis, but apparently CDB is now interested in the entire business after valuations fell. CDB paid US$3.04 billion for a 3% stake in UK lender Barclays in July 2007. It is carrying a US$1.7 billion paper loss on this investment.