A prominent Chinese group may take a significant stake in one of Germany's private banks, a market that may be ripe for consolidation, a report says.

The Chinese holding group Fosun International is among a number of investors eyeing a stake in Hauck & Aufhaesuer, one of a large number of small private banks in Germany, Reuters has reported.

The private bank was founded in Frankfurt and Munich by Friedrich Michael Hauck in 1796 and Heinrich Aufhäuser in 1870.

The news service quoted a spokesperson for the private bank as saying: "There are several interested parties who want to buy a stake in Hauck & Aufhaeuser." No further details were given and Fosun’s comments were not reported; it could not be reached at the time of going to press.

In total, there are about 70 owners of the bank, and in 2013, the last period for which details were available, it oversaw €27 billion ($30.36 billion) of assets.

If Fosun did take a stake, it would add to its shareholding of almost 20 per cent of Germany’s BHF Kleinwort Benson, which is the parent firm of German private bank BHF.

Germany’s private banking sector is an onshore market and tends not to cause much of a stir outside its home turf. This publication recently profiled this large European economy’s wealth management industry. (See here.)