(23 May 2006 – Hong Kong) Retail investors have been flocking to participate in Bank of China’s initial public offering in Hong Kong.The huge level of interest could see the size of the bank’s IPO expand to US$11.3 billion from the original figure of US$9.8 billion.
The IPO is set to be the world’s largest in six years.
With retail orders due to close next week, the retail slice of the overall shares could be expanded from five to 20 percent.
Last month, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing told the bank to increase the size of its IPO from 16 to 20 percent to increase the amount of retail shares available.
Temasek, UBS and China’s National Social Security Fund own a 10 percent block.