Further bidders for Northern Rock

There has been talk that Northern Rock may be taken over by the private equity group, JC Flowers. Now, Barclays Global Investors and Legal & General are raising their stakes in the crisis-torn bank.

Barclays, the second-largest investor after RAB Capital, added 338,000 shares to raise its stake to £37 million. Legal & General have added 2.3 million shares, raising its stake to £25 million.

Furthermore, 2 more hedge funds have appeared on the register alongside RAB, which has built up a 6.7% stake in the last 2 weeks. Last week, Artemis bought 2.16 million shares at 182p. Nicholas Levene, director of Integrated Asset Management and deputy chairman of Nicola Horlick’s Bramdean Asset Management, has raised an interest in more than 4.5 million shares.

JC Flowers is the lead bidder but is said to be weeks away from putting in an offer as it plans to assess Northern Rock’s financial health in more detail.

Analysts believe it is unlikely anyone will bid much more than 175p a share. However, Northern Rock’s charitable foundation and shareholders believe that the bank will hold out for a better price.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Further bidders for Northern Rock