Nationalisation of Northern Rock that Northern Rock was to be nationalised claiming that the private bids did not offer "sufficient value for money to the taxpayer" and thus the bank was to be brought under a "temporary period of public ownership". The government is the sole shareholder through UK Financial Investments Limited, and the Bank is managed at "arm's length" on a commercial basis by an independent board under Ron Sandler. Customers are not affected by this change. A Government-appointed arbitration panel will decide on a fair price for the compensation to be offered to investors for their shares. Prior to the markets opening
Nationalisation of Northern Rock the Government, regulators and individuals whose nationalisation of the bank, they believed to have been inappropriate, and a contributory factor to the current crisis. On 15 January 2008, a meeting was held at the 11,000 seat Metro Radio Arena to discuss the situation which then existed, where all but one of the proposals put forward by the hedge funds were rejected. In May Legal & General joined the hedge funds, as an "interested party". The hedge funds are to request that an independent valuer assesses the level of compensation and to argue that the bank's shares are worth more than