The Renuka Agri Foods Limited share issue which opened and closed on Friday had been massively over-subscribed by seven times with counting yet going on, a spokeswoman for the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, Managers and Registrars to the issue said yesterday.

"A total of Rs.1.89 billion had been received with a couple of applicants seeking the entirety of the issue," she said.

Mr. Shamindra Rajiyah, Managing Director of the company said that the demand had been unexpectedly high. "We didn’t expect the rush we saw," he said.

Asked what the basis of allotment would be, Rajiyah said that the company’s directors will have to meet and decide how it would be done but "we will try to make it as equitable as possible."

He said that Renuka Agri Foods will be seeking a quotation on the Colombo Stock Exchange in January and this will be the first quotation in the New Year on the CSE.

"We didn’t want to do it during the December holiday season when trading is usually dull," he explained.

Asked when refunds in respect of uncertified components of share applications would be made, he said there was a CSE rule placing a time frame within which refunds must be completed and they would conform to these dates.

"I am not exactly sure when that would be but the refunds would be completed by mid-December," Rajiyah said.