Northern Rock Looks to Virgin as Savior

Stock soars as Branson leads consortium to buy stricken lender
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 26, 2007 8:00 AM CST
Northern Rock Looks to Virgin as Savior
A Monday Sept. 17, 2007 photo from files showing customers standing in a queue outside a branch of the Northern Rock the British mortgage lender in Harrow, London. Shares of British mortgage lender Northern Rock PLC, hit by a liquidity crisis which sent customers lining up to withdraw billions in deposits,...   (Associated Press)

A consortium led by billionaire Richard Branson is the government’s “preferred bidder” in an effort to rescue embattled UK mortgage lender Northern Rock, Bloomberg reports. Virgin Group says it will immediately pay back $22.5 billion of the $50 billion the Bank of England loaned Northern Rock to keep it afloat, and would inject cash into Rock through a stock offering.

Northern Rock would merge into Virgin Money, the personal finance branch of Virgin Group. The consortium promised additional funding for Virgin Money to take its value to $500 million in exchange for a stake of some 50-60%. Northern Rock shares soared 57% in trading today in London. “This stock is not for the faint-hearted,” cautioned one analyst. (More Richard Branson stories.)

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