Business Secretary Vince Cable defended the government's sale of a majority stake in Royal Mail, saying that hundreds of thousands of small investors will buy shares.

Cable told a parliamentary committee Wednesday that more than 700,000 retail investors have sought shares in the initial public offering. Overall, investors have requested seven times more shares than the government offered for sale.

Shares are expected to be priced at between 260 pence and 330 pence, a market valuation of between 2.6 billion pounds ($4.1 billion) and 3.3 billion pounds. The government would raise between 1.04 billion pounds and 1.72 billion pounds based on these figures.

The opposition Labour Party says the sale should be put on hold amid concern the price is too low, costing taxpayers as much as 1 billion pounds.