Shares digital

It would appear one of the key barriers to a takeover of Northern Rock (NRK) may be closer to resolution. Any bidder – Olivant and Virgin are the two currently in play (see page 28) – would have to secure a multi billion-pound loan to immediately pay back some of the emergency funding provided by the Bank of England. It had been reported that a consortium of banks working on the financing, said to be Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), were struggling to get the finance together. Now, according to weekend press reports, Goldman Sachs is close to completing a £15 billion financing package.

Shares says: Olivant is best for shareholders but they risk ending up with nothing if financing can't be found. SK