Olivant must find more for Northern Rock
By Iain Dey
Luqman Arnold, the former Abbey National boss, and head of Olivant. Olivant has been told it will need to pump an additional £200m-£300m of cash into its proposed takeover bid for Northern Rock.
It is understood that the Government, the Bank of England and the Northern Rock board believe that Arnold's plans do not include enough new equity - and could undermine the future financial strength of the bank.
News of the potential complication comes amid mounting concerns that neither Arnold nor Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, the rival bidder, will be able to pull off a deal ahead of an informal deadline of mid January.
A nationalisation of the bank could force the Government to pay £1.7bn to Northern Rock's shareholders, including Rab Capital and SRM Global, the hedge funds that bought big stakes in the bank after its problems became apparent. (AtW's comment: those guys should not get a penny of their money back, best if they get done for a very long time for stock market manipulations)
SRM's Jon Wood is understood to have received legal advice indicating that precedents across Europe suggest the Government would need to pay no less than £4.10 a share to nationalise the bank - equivalent to Northern Rock's book value.
It is understood there are also a slew of complications related to the true value of Northern Rock's subordinated bonds.
Meanwhile, Virgin is understood to have lined up two more senior City figures to join its management team, in a bid to answer concerns raised by Northern Rock's advisers about the strength of its management team.
A finance director and treasurer for the bank have both been lined up to work alongside Virgin Money chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia, although neither will join the company until a successful bid has been announced.
Goldman Sachs, which has been advising the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England, has now become the dominant adviser working on the deal.
Goldman has been asked to find new sources of finance, following signs that the original lending consortium of Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank may not be willing to put up all of the £15bn funding line that had earlier been promised. Northern Rock's total funding needs stretch to around £30bn.
It is also unclear whether they could provide such large sums of money at a commercially viable rate. It is understood that the three banks are asking for a fee in excess of 1 per cent. The arrangement fees would be paid from the new equity injected into the company.
Arnold is proposing to inject up to £900m of new money into the company, compared with Virgin's promise of £1.1bn plus the existing Virgin Money business.
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Ok, why are we all doomed? Because it is ridiculous that in having this northern crock situation people who are responsible for economic policy demand 200-300 mln from guys who have to get 30 times as much in the first place - in effect the demand is for extra 3% of the money, this is insane to huggle that much in situation like this
By Iain Dey
Luqman Arnold, the former Abbey National boss, and head of Olivant. Olivant has been told it will need to pump an additional £200m-£300m of cash into its proposed takeover bid for Northern Rock.
It is understood that the Government, the Bank of England and the Northern Rock board believe that Arnold's plans do not include enough new equity - and could undermine the future financial strength of the bank.
News of the potential complication comes amid mounting concerns that neither Arnold nor Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, the rival bidder, will be able to pull off a deal ahead of an informal deadline of mid January.
A nationalisation of the bank could force the Government to pay £1.7bn to Northern Rock's shareholders, including Rab Capital and SRM Global, the hedge funds that bought big stakes in the bank after its problems became apparent. (AtW's comment: those guys should not get a penny of their money back, best if they get done for a very long time for stock market manipulations)
SRM's Jon Wood is understood to have received legal advice indicating that precedents across Europe suggest the Government would need to pay no less than £4.10 a share to nationalise the bank - equivalent to Northern Rock's book value.
It is understood there are also a slew of complications related to the true value of Northern Rock's subordinated bonds.
Meanwhile, Virgin is understood to have lined up two more senior City figures to join its management team, in a bid to answer concerns raised by Northern Rock's advisers about the strength of its management team.
A finance director and treasurer for the bank have both been lined up to work alongside Virgin Money chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia, although neither will join the company until a successful bid has been announced.
Goldman Sachs, which has been advising the Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and the Bank of England, has now become the dominant adviser working on the deal.
Goldman has been asked to find new sources of finance, following signs that the original lending consortium of Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank may not be willing to put up all of the £15bn funding line that had earlier been promised. Northern Rock's total funding needs stretch to around £30bn.
It is also unclear whether they could provide such large sums of money at a commercially viable rate. It is understood that the three banks are asking for a fee in excess of 1 per cent. The arrangement fees would be paid from the new equity injected into the company.
Arnold is proposing to inject up to £900m of new money into the company, compared with Virgin's promise of £1.1bn plus the existing Virgin Money business.
-----
Ok, why are we all doomed? Because it is ridiculous that in having this northern crock situation people who are responsible for economic policy demand 200-300 mln from guys who have to get 30 times as much in the first place - in effect the demand is for extra 3% of the money, this is insane to huggle that much in situation like this
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