PM confirms that Rock still in private sale talks

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently announced that the ailing bank Northern Rock is still in talks over a private sale, despite talks of possible government intervention by way of passing the bank into public ownership – a move that was opposed by the Conservative Party, which believes that Gordon Brown did not do enough to prevent the crisis from arising.

One of those in talks over the sale of Northern Rock is Sir Richard Branson’s company, Virgin. Sir Richard Branson recently stated: “I’m still confident that our bid is good. And I personally believe it’s the best bid on the table, it’s the best option for Northern Rock. I believe it’s the best option because we would re-brand it the Virgin Bank, which is a very strong brand.”

The Prime Minister said: “Now we’ve been presented with a report that we commissioned from Goldman Sachs and it gives us a number of options for the future. It’s right therefore to have the discussions with the private sector. All options, including public ownership, on the road to moving the firm back into the private sector are on the table and are available to the government.”