The bond tender was the biggest so far by a single issuer in the growing offshore yuan market and received heavy demand from investors hungry to buy yuan-linked assets.

Since landmark reforms in July 2010 allowed banks in Hong Kong to freely trade renminbi, trade settled in China's currency has grown by six times. Yuan-settled trade accounted for 7 percent of China's total trade in the March quarter compared with less than 1 percent in the prior year.

The growth in offshore yuan trade settlement has boosted the development of a so-called "CNH" market in Hong Kong.

Big name foreign borrowers, including the World Bank, Volkswagen McDonald's Corp and Caterpillar , have sold yuan-denominated bonds, or "dim sum" bonds, as they are more colorfully known after a local delicacy.

As of the end of last week, 88 billion yuan ($13.7 billion) worth of dim sum bonds had been issued in 2011, according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with 42.6 billion yuan worth during all of 2010.

A total of 69 billion yuan worth of bids was received for the 15 billion institutional tranche suggesting heavy demand.

Copyright Reuters, 2011