( CNN ) -- One of China 's biggest banks is planning to make the country 's biggest foreign bank acquisition to date and has set its sights on potential targets in Europe . China Construction Bank , the second-ranked Chinese bank by assets after Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , could spend as much as $ 15bn on a deal , according to Wang Hongzhang , the group 's chairman . `` Some of the banks in Europe have been put up for sale , '' Mr Wang told the Financial Times in an interview . `` Now we are looking for the right choice . '' He said CCB had Rmb100bn ( $ 15.8bn ) of capital available to acquire a whole bank or , at a minimum , to buy a stake of 30-50 per cent in a larger entity . Mr Wang , who praised the progress of European policymakers in addressing the eurozone crisis , would not be drawn on individual names but said an investment in the UK , Germany or France would be most attractive . He valued the partnership agreement CCB has with Bank of America , which owns a 1 per cent stake in the Chinese bank , but did not plan to support it with a shareholding . Any acquisition would have to have a reasonable international presence , Mr Wang added , rather than just a single-country domestic focus . An internationally minded acquisition target would pose fewer `` cultural challenges '' , he said . Investment bankers believe banks that were part-nationalised amid the financial crisis could make appealing targets . RBS , 82 per cent owned by the British government , has a market capitalisation of Â£17bn . Commerzbank , the German bank that is 25 per cent government-owned , is worth barely â‚¬9bn . Analysts and deal bankers have long predicted that Chinese groups , which retain relatively high market valuations , could swoop on comparatively cheap western rivals . But so far there has been little activity . ICBC 's $ 5.5bn acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in South Africa 's Standard Bank has been the biggest deal to date . The Chinese financial sector has been scarred by the few deals they have done abroad . China Investment Corp , the sovereign wealth fund , took big stakes in Morgan Stanley and Blackstone just before the global financial crisis savaged their share prices . In Europe , China Development Bank has seen a big paper loss on its investment in Barclays , while Ping An , a life insurer , bought a stake in Fortis just before it ran into trouble and had to be split up . With Europe 's debt problems deepening over the past two years , Chinese regulators have advised the country 's banks to keep a safe distance from European financial institutions . At one point they were even told to avoid basic foreign exchange transactions with certain European counterparties because of the financial risks . `` In the past several years what happened to Chinese investors was not particularly encouraging , '' Victor Wang of Macquarie Securities said . `` In my base case , I am not expecting any large-sized overseas acquisitions . `` But if they are talking about investing in a listed entity , it may look interesting from a long-term perspective because the asking price must be reasonable now . '' Guo Shuqing , Wang Hongzhang 's predecessor as chairman of CCB , insisted last year that price alone would not be enough of a reason to do a deal . Mr Guo , who is now China 's chief securities regulator , appealed for caution when looking at foreign banks : `` Their shares have really fallen , '' he said at the time . `` Just looking at the prices , it might seem a good deal . But it would not necessarily suit our development strategy . ''
One of China 's biggest banks is planning to make the country 's biggest foreign bank acquisition . Chairman : China Construction Bank could spend as much as $ 5000 for ` ` the right choice '' Wang would not name , but UK , Germany or France banks are attractive . Some have suggested that Chinese banks could take on comparatively cheap western banks .