The voracious take-up of Butterfield Bank's $200 million preference share offering has shown the local capacity and appetite for sound investments with an attractive yield.

The is the view of Greg Wojciechowski, president and CEO of the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX), who officially welcomed the listing of the stock on Friday.

Mr. Wojciechowski presented Butterfield Bank president and CEO Alan Thompson with a plaque to commemorate the listing of the preference shares, which have already been trading briskly for more than a week.

"I'd like to congratulate Butterfield Bank for closing this offering successfully in difficult market conditions," Mr. Wojciechowski said.

"From the Bermuda economy's perspective, it's a hugely significant development. From our perspective, that a local issuer could initiate a local and international offering and to have the take-up that it has, is also very significant.

"It is testimony not only to the reputation of the bank and its management, but also to Bermudians' appetite for a sound and reasonable investment opportunity."

The bank needed to raise the money to build up a sufficient "capital buffer" to ensure it can withstand a severe economic downtown, in light of enhanced regulatory requirements sparked by the slowdown of the global economy.

Investors will receive a yield of eight percent per annum, paid out in quarterly dividends. Both the principal and dividends have been guaranteed by Government.

Last month's offering was substantially oversubscribed and some larger-scale investors were told they would only be allocated half the shares they applied for.

The popularity of the shares has been borne out by the active market for them ever since they started trading on the Exchange. Their closing price on Friday was $1,200, compared to the $1,000 that the original investors paid for them last month.

"I think one of the big positives about this is that the preference shares have traded actively in the secondary market," Mr. Thompson said. "I believe they have traded every day."

The bank boss said he had been delighted with the positive response to the offering from the local economy. "I think it shows the sophistication of the Bermuda economy that more than 95 percent of the original investors are Bermudian," Mr. Thompson said.

Mr. Wojciechowski said the success of Butterfield's offering might encourage other companies looking to raise capital to consider the advantages of the domestic market. The active trading of the shares on the BSX showed that "there are some legs to this kind of market", he added.

The BSX should be considered as money-raising option for the public sector, as well as private interests, he said. Provided the structure of the investment was sound and it offered an attractive return, Butterfield's experience had shown there was a good chance of success.

Also present at Friday's ceremony at the BSX headquarters in the Washington Mall building were Butterfield Bank's chief financial officer Ricard Ferrett, executive vice-president of wealth management Curtis Dickinson and general counsel Tonya Marshall, as well as BSX chief compliance officer James McKirdy and operations manager Neville Caines.