Record iBond subscription means many Hong Kong investors will face allocation limit

The record high subscription to the Hong Kong government's latest batch of inflation-linked retail bonds, or iBonds, means about one-third of the subscribers will only be allocated one unit.

Details of the subscriptions released by the government yesterday showed a total 597,895 applications - up 22.5 per cent from last August. It was the best response since the inflation-linked retail bond was launched in 2011.

The value of total subscription, at about HK$35.7 billion, also jumped about 24 per cent from HK$28.8 billion last August.

The final issue amount is HK$10 billion.

On average, each subscriber applied for 5.9 lots this year, same as last August, but compared with 7.6 lots each in 2013, 15 lots in 2012 and 8.4 in 2011. One lot is equal to HK$10,000.

According to the allocation mechanism, all applications will be allocated one unit of bond first and 402,105 of those who had applied for more than one unit would get one additional unit after a ballot.