Virgin's bankers have barely begun discussing the detail of its proposals for Northern Rock, despite the stricken lender unveiling Sir Richard Branson's group as its preferred bidder - with the Government's blessing - last week, The Telegraph reports.
It is believed that the first meeting between Virgin's bankers - Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland - only took place last week. Virgin is reliant on these institutions to provide it with the £10bn-£15bn it needs to pay back some of the £25bn or more Northern Rock has borrowed from the Bank of England. Banking sources stress that these talks are still at an early stage and the banks could yet walk away without backing Virgin's proposal. Deutsche Bank is already thought to have raised "serious issues" over Virgin's plans. A Deutsche Bank spokesman would only say: "We a...
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