Germany's Commerzbank AG, armed with a 1.5 billion deutschmark (£585 million) war chest, emerged yesterday as top suitor for unwanted parts of Barclays Plc's BZW investment banking unit. Commerzbank refused to comment on whether it would make a bid for the units Barclays plans to sell after admitting defeat in its attempt to make BZW a global investment banking player.

But banking analysts said a tie-up between Commerzbank - the smallest of the Frankfurt `big three' banks and the only one without a major London presence - and BZW looked like a good marriage, at least on paper.

"The likelihood of Commerzbank taking a good look and stepping up is pretty good," said Mr Mark Hoge, an industry analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in London.

Barclays announced yesterday it planned to sell BZW's corporate finance and stockbroking operations, ending months of speculation about the unit's future.

Commerzbank would be well-positioned to buy the units, seen as worth nearly three billion deutschmarks, since it announced plans in September to raise 1.5 billion deutschmarks to fund an acquisition drive and has reported a strong financial performance in 1997.

Other banks, however, could emerge as rival suitors in a deal that may turn complicated since Barclays must decide which units can be sold and which must be shut.

Market speculation has covered many banks, including ING Group of the Netherlands or Belgium's Banque Bruxelles Lambert. Credit Suisse First Boston is also tipped as is US bank Morgan Stanley .

An acquisition by Commerzbank may make the most sense, however, because BZW offers a major presence in the British equities market. It has 20 of the 100 blue-chip companies in the FTSE 100 index as clients and has a major stockbroking operation.

Commerzbank is viewed by analysts as being weak in the global equities business and needing to catch up with its Frankfurt rivals - Deutsche Bank AG and Dresdner Bank AG.