FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's second-largest lender DZ Bank said it was considering all options for DVB after the ship and aircraft financing unit saw its 2017 pretax loss triple to 774 million euros ($955 million).
DVB reduced its new business and significantly hiked its provisions for bad ship loans, DZ Bank said, adding that problems were caused by a rise in overcapacities in the shipping sector.
According to people familiar with the matter, the Bank of China (BOC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) are among suitors looking at a potential purchase DVB Bank.
DZ Bank also said that its group pretax profit fell to 1.8 billion euros from 2.2 billion a year earlier as the lender took a hit from DVB's provisions. Net profit shrank to 1.1 billion from 1.6 billion euros.
($1 = 0.8108 euros)