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 the final price of their trading prior to nationalisation. This legal action is thought to have started on 8 May. A number of Northern Rock shareholders have also taken action in an attempt to get some level of compensation for their shares. Three North Labour MPs have agreed to hand a series of petitions in, on behalf of shareholders who lost hundreds of thousands of pounds when their shares were confiscated. As of 6 July around about 10 firms had applied to value the Bank. "The Times" reported on 3 August that Houlihan Lokey, BDO Stoy Hayward and L.E.K. Consulting