Nationalisation of Northern Rock in the event that the takeover bids fail. On 12 January 2008, the Treasury recruited Ron Sandler, the former Lloyd's of London Chief Executive, to lead Northern Rock, in the event that the bank was nationalised. If the Bank was to be temporarily nationalised, the government would manage the Bank at "arm's length" on a commercial basis, where services for savers and borrowers would not be affected and the company would continue to operate as normal. However nationalisation would also address the future of the Northern Rock Foundation. Alistair Darling rejected the possibility of the Bank being put into administration.
Nationalisation of Northern Rock renamed it Partnership House. Prior to Nationalisation, the company donated substantial amounts annually to its own charity, the "Northern Rock Foundation". Nationalisation ended the covenant requiring Northern Rock to remit a share of profits to the Foundation. Instead, for the next three years the Foundation will receive an annual £15 million payment from Northern Rock, whether it remains publicly owned or returns to the private sector. The Foundation's shares were cancelled and compensated in the same way as those of other shareholders. Two hedge funds that owned 20% of the bank, SRM Global and RAB Capital, took legal action against