China Citic Bank Corp and China Molybdenum Co (CMOC) have attracted at least HK$439 billion worth of retail orders for their Hong Kong initial public offerings, thanks to investors' persistently strong appetite for new offerings and ample market liquidity.
Citic Bank had received at least HK$143 billion of orders for the retail tranche of its offer by the time the market closed yesterday.
CMOC received HK$296 billion of retail orders when subscriptions closed yesterday, making it the third most popular after Country Garden Holdings' HK$310 billion, sources said.
'The level of Citic Bank's subscription will absolutely rise as some big orders [funded by borrowings] will be placed at the last minute to avoid paying high interest costs,' a source said.
Sources said some institutional investors also placed orders in the retail tranche because they expected to get fewer shares than they wanted. The institutional tranche received US$180 million worth of orders, making it more than 50 times covered.
The international tranche closed a day earlier than planned to avoid a last-minute rush, the sources said.
Citic Bank's retail offering is due to close at noon today and market observers expect it to attract more than HK$270 billion worth of orders. The oversubscription will trigger a clawback mechanism that will increase shares available to retail investors from 5 per cent to 20 per cent.