知情人士表示，中國農業銀行(Agricultural Bank of China)大規模兩地上市在香港站已獲得機構投資者500億美元認購。

　　The high level of institutional demand means that Agricultural Bank remains on track to raise as much as $23bn in what could be the world’s biggest initial public offering.

　　機構投資者認購需求巨大，意味著農行在首次公開發行(IPO)中仍然有望融資230億美元之多，成為全球最大規模的IPO。

　　Investors have been placing their orders at prices across the HK$2.88-HK$3.48 ($0.37-$0.45) range in which Agricultural Bank plans to sell 25.4bn shares in Hong Kong.

　　投資者以每股2.88-3.48港元（合0.37-0.45美元）的價格下單。農行計劃在香港發售254億股。

　　“The orders are mixed,” said a person close to the deal. “Some are at the bottom, some at the top.”

　　一位接近農行IPO的人士表示：“認購價參差不一，有的位于區間下限，有的是上限。”

　　If the shares sell at the top of the price range and underwriters on the deal trigger options to increase the offering’s size by 15 per cent, Agricultural Bank could raise as much as $13bn in Hong Kong and another $10bn in Shanghai.

　　假如農行最終以上限價格招股，并且承銷商啟動超額認股權，把發行規模擴大15%，農行在香港將可融資130億美元，在上海可融資100億美元。

　　At $23bn, the listing would exceed the record $21.9bn that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China raised in 2006.

　　這樣一來，兩地融資之和將達到230億美元，打破中國工商銀行(ICBC)在2006年創下的219億美元融資紀錄。

　　But the euphoria that surrounded previous IPOs of Chinese state-owned banks is absent this time.

　　然而，以往投資者對中國國有銀行IPO的狂熱，這次卻不見了。

　　Four years ago, overseas institutional investors ordered about $350bn of ICBC shares and retail investors queued in their hundreds to get involved in the deal.

　　4年前工行招股時，海外機構投資者的申購金額高達3500億美元左右，散戶為了參與認購則排起了數百人的長隊。

　　Agricultural Bank had originally hoped to raise as much as $30bn in the IPO but has been forced to scale down its expectations in recent weeks as stock markets have weakened.

　　農行最初希望通過IPO融資300億美元，但近幾周隨著股市走弱，不得不降低預期。

　　The Shanghai stock market has fallen 25 per cent since mid-April because of worries about the economy and concern that a deluge of bank fund-raisings will swamp the market.

　　自4月中旬以來，上海股市下跌了25%，原因是投資者擔心經濟形勢，也唯恐一大批銀行融資計劃將會給市場造成沖擊。

　　Market volatility has not eased up since Agricultural Bank set its IPO price ranges for Shanghai on Monday and for Hong Kong a week ago on Wednesday.

　　自從農行周一確定上海IPO價格區間、上周三確定香港IPO價格區間以來，市場波動并未趨緩。

　　In moves that bode ill for the final price of the offering, the Shanghai market has dropped 6 per cent since the announcement.

　　從農行宣布價格區間至今，上海股市下跌了6%，這對農行IPO的最終定價不是好兆頭。

　　Hong Kong has fallen 3 per cent. Shares worth $5.45bn, or nearly half of the Hong Kong offering, have already been allocated to 11 main investors, most notably the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and Kuwait.

　　香港股市則下跌了3%。農行將向11家基石投資者配售54.5億美元股票，占香港招股總額的近一半，當中最顯眼的是卡塔爾和科威特的主權財富基金。