HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares in Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd (GRCB) were set to open flat in their debut on Tuesday as mom and pop investors shied away from the largest initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong so far in 2017.
China's No.5 rural commercial bank by assets was indicated to open at HK$5.12, compared with the HK$5.10 IPO price. The benchmark Hang Seng index was poised to open 0.4 percent higher.
GRCB priced the $1 billion IPO slightly below the middle of its marketing range of HK$4.99 to HK$5.27 per share.
Demand from retail investors - who have a significant influence over first-day trading in Hong Kong share offerings - accounted for 0.45 times the number of shares on offer in the deal, the lender said in a securities filing on Monday, underscoring weak appetite for the deal. The institutional tranche was "moderately" oversubscribed.
(Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Richard Pullin)
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