AIA shares closed at a 3.86% premium on the opening price of $HK22.25 ($2.91) at the end of the newly listed company’s first day of trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The shares had been offered at $HK19.68 ($2.57) in the float prospectus.

Strong demand for the Asian life insurer’s shares on the first day pushed them to close at $HK22.85 ($2.98), on a day when the overall market fell.

The float was over-subscribed and parent AIG ending up selling more of its holding to meet market demand.

AIG was destined to hold 41.6% in AIA under the original share allocation, but to deal with the over-subscriptions it reduced its stake to 32.9%. Public shareholders, including a number of sovereign funds, now own 67.1% of AIA.

The over-subscription raised another $HK20.2 billion ($2.64 billion) giving a total capital raising of $HK138.3 billion ($18.1 billion), which AIG will use to pay part of its debt to the US Government.