Investors have rushed to apply for shares in Bank of China Hong Kong, in what could prove to be a rare stock market success story.

Bank officials have more than tripled the number of shares on offer to the public - from 10% to 35% of the total - after the offer was 26 times oversubscribed.

On Saturday, institutional investors bought more than US$2bn-worth of shares, and bid for twice as many.

Bank of China Hong Kong, the overseas arm of China's biggest foreign-exchange bank, is floating up to 25% of its shares in what promises to be the biggest Hong Kong market debut since 2000.

Its shares are due to begin trading on 25 July.

People's choice

Bank of China Hong Kong's share offering was always predicted to be a bigger hit with the public than with financial institutions.

Investors have had little to get excited about recently

While many international investors are drawing in their horns at present, retail demand has been boosted by the bank's strong client base in the territory.

Many of the retail investors are account-holders, drawn by the fact that the likely yield on the shares is higher than the bank's deposit rates.

With the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets relatively lacklustre at present, there have been few opportunities on the scale of the Bank of China offering.

Retail investors are getting their shares at 8.08 Hong dollars (�0.66; $1.04) apiece, a 5% discount to the price struck by institutional investors.

Wobbles

The sale has not been without controversy.

The firm's debut wobbled in January when the former president of the Beijing parent company was arrested over corrupt loans during his time there.

The bank's listing prospectus said that Wang Xuebing was now facing "prosecutorial action" in China.

The arrest of Mr Wang shocked international financiers because the 49-year-old banker had been seen as a financial reformer and a prot�g� of China's Premier Zhu Rongji.

Some investors also have concerns about becoming involved in the banking system on the Chinese mainland, which is weighed down with bad debt from technically bankrupt state firms.