Richard Branson's Virgin Group has placed the highest bid for Northern Rock, it was revealed last night.
Following the withdrawal of the Olivant investment group, only Virgin and the bank’s management remained as potential bidders, though nationalisation has not been ruled out by the Treasury. The Virgin bid proposes injecting £1.25bn of new capital into the bank, which it would rebrand as part of Virgin Money. The bid suggests injecting £500m from consortium partners, a further £250m from Virgin Money and issuing £500m worth of new shares, priced at 25p each. Virgin says current shareholders would be eligible to purchase 4.7 new shares for every share they currently own. Virgin’s proposed...
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