Nationalisation of Northern Rock In October 2008 the chairman Ron Sandler noted that there had been informal talks concerning the idea of the merger with the government, but there had been no subsequent discussion. Sandler did however add "It would not surprise me at some point if a closer look was taken at the method of managing loan books within government-owned banks". In March 2009 Alistair Darling said that he was keeping his options open during the "fast-moving" crisis in the banking industry, and thus not ruling out the possibility of a mortgage book merger between Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley. On 24
Nationalisation of Northern Rock bank, leaving only NBNK and Virgin as contenders. This came as the restriction on NBNK from Hoffman's appointment expired; at this time NBNK were also preparing a bid for 632 branches of Lloyds. On 17 November 2011 it was announced that Virgin Money Holdings (UK) Limited were going to buy Northern Rock from UKFI for £747 million up front and other potential payments of up to £280 million over the next few years. These additional payments which would take the value of the sale to over £1 billion could include a £150 million capital instrument and an additional cash consideration