Bradford & Bingley was today nursing its wounds after the City snubbed its highly controversial £400million fundraising bid.

Shareholders had until 11am today to subscribe to the rights issue at 55p a share but early indications suggested the vast majority turned their back on the troubled mortgage bank.

Under-fire chairman Rod Kent said he would be very surprised if the emergency cash call received more support than the recent disastrous £4billion fundraising from Halifax owner HBOS.

Only 8.29% of HBOS shareholders signed up to the rights issue, which closed last month, and with B&B shares hovering around the 55p issue price for weeks - they closed at 54¾p last night - there was little incentive for the former building society's 850,000 small shareholders to sign up.

The shares fell ¼p to 54½p today, valuing B&B at about £790million.

Kent said anything over an 8% takeup would be an achievement but critics in the City said he was merely managing expectations and such a result would be devastating for his reputation and that of the bank. Analysts predict the take-up to be about 20% or even less.

B&B will get the money regardless of how many shareholders take up their rights after paying investment banks UBS and Citigroup millions of pounds to underwrite the deal. A total of £455million will be raised but £55million will go on fees.

Four of B&B's biggest investors, Standard life, legal & general, M&g and insight investments, are thought to be sub-underwriting about £145million of the issue. The remainder has largely been underwritten by the UK's biggest banks.

The B&B rights issue has been one of the most controversial in British corporate history and completes a hat-trick of cash calls from UK banks following on from HBOS and the record-breaking £12billion fundraising by Royal Bank of Scotland.

The bank was forced to go cap in hand to the City for cash as it dealt with heavy losses and a sharp downturn in the housing market, particularly in buy-to-let, where B&B specialised.

Its first two attempts at raising the cash were scuppered, bringing it to this third effort and leaving the bank's reputation in tatters.

It first launched its rights issue at 82p a share but it ripped that plan up and slashed the issue price to 55p a share while announcing that private-equity giant Texas Pacific group would take a 23% stake in return for £179million. a profits warning sank the TPG deal and B&B unveiled a third fundraising attempt, a rights issue at 55p a share.

Sources at the bank said the rights issue was "a benchmark" for B&B. Kent assumed day-to-day control of the bank after chief executive Steven Crawshaw resigned through ill health.