Fresh rumours hit Northern Rock

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Shares in the stricken bank fell almost 8% following BBC reports that both rescue deals on the table failed to match up to Government expectations.

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin consortium is ahead of a management-led team in the race for Northern Rock but the Government is prepared to nationalise the group unless it gains a better price and a bigger share in any recovery, the BBC said.

The Treasury, which was unavailable for comment on the BBC report, is backing plans to split Northern Rock's estimated £24 billion taxpayer debt into Government-backed bonds and sell it off to investors.

But it is said to want a bigger slice of the profits in return for the funding guarantees, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown prepared to go ahead with nationalisation if a deal cannot be agreed.

Shareholders of Northern Rock are opposed to the Virgin bid as it will involve cutting their stake in Northern Rock to less than half the business - although the Government has signalled that investors may get no compensation at all if it is eventually forced to nationalise the firm.

A second bid from the lender's own management is well behind Virgin in the running, the BBC added.

But opposition politicians rounded on the latest reports, with a Conservative spokesman claiming Mr Brown was being "buffeted by events".

He said: "It is clear that even after many months the Government still doesn't have a way out of this mess."

Northern Rock has been in crisis since September last year, when soaring borrowing costs forced it to seek emergency funding from the Bank of England. The revelation put the lender at the centre of the UK's first bank run for more than 140 years.