Bank of China Limited (BOC), one of China's four biggest State-owned commercial banks, started its Hong Kong public offering Thursday, and Hong Kong citizens lined in queues in a number banks in Hong Kong for getting application forms in the morning.

Some 3 million copies of the applications forms are prepared for local banks and securities companies.

At a bank in Kowloon, hundreds of people lined in queues before the bank's opening hour for fetching an application form.

In Central District's banking area, dozens of people lined up in each of the banks there for taking application forms.

Various banks also offered loans at preferential interest rates for citizens to apply new shares and banks are waving a "war" to attract customers.

The successful listing of a number of Chinese mainland companies in the past few months has already "fostered" many fans of the newly listing Chinese mainland companies, as winning the lots of new shares.

The bank will offer a total of 25.57 billion H shares in its global offering, including initially 1.28 billion H shares for the Hong Kong public offering and 24.29 billion H shares for the international offering.

The offer price will not be higher than 3.00 HK dollars (0.38 US dollars) per share and is expected not to be lower than 2.50 HK dollars (0.32 US dollars). The final price will be determined on May 24, 2006.

Trading of the bank's H share is scheduled to commence on June 1 on the main board of the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Limited. The lot size is 1,000 shares.

BOC Chairman Xiao Gang said at a televised press conference on Wednesday that "We are a leader in non-interest income and foreign exchange business with strong product innovation capabilities. The overall listing of the bank in Hong Kong is to open another exciting chapter of the bank's hundred-year history."

Xiao said the net proceeds of the bank's global offering will be approximately 68.07 billion HK dollars (8.73 billion US dollars) after deducting the underwriting fees and estimated expenses payable by the bank.

He said the bank intends to use the proceeds to strengthen its capital to support its future business growth.

He said that the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong markets are the foundations of the bank's development. "With the support of all our customers, I am certain that Bank of China will further develop and expand and create value for all our customers and shareholders."

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