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 year and that £9.4bn of a loan from the Bank of England had been paid back, reducing the amount owed to £17.5bn. On 12 October 2007, Virgin Group announced that it intended to bid for Northern Rock as the lead partner in a coalition including American giant AIG, turnaround specialist WL Ross and First Eastern Investment. Had the deal been successful, Northern Rock would have been integrated into Virgin Money as Virgin Bank. It is unclear what role partners would have had in the deal. This bid was later approved by the UK Treasury and had been noted as