If Chris Flowers thought he was going to have little competition in his quest
to buy Northern Rock, he’s been comprehensively disabused of that notion at
this point. The Virgin bid might sound a bit lightweight (a rebranding to Virgin
Money), but it’s backed by AIG, which gives it serious heft. And now it turns
out that GMAC
has joined the Cerberus bid – not necessarily surprising, given that
Cerberus owns GMAC, but formidable all the same. Against that competition, Flowers’s
bid almost looks like the lightweight of the bunch: he has some first-rate executives
lined up, but less in the way of copper-bottomed financial sponsors. Expect
a fully-fledged takeover battle.