Northern Rock shares - what happens now?

[VenalWinfrey]

Dear all

Can anybody tell me, if the Rock is nationalised as looks possible, does this mean that those holding shares will be forced to hand them back at current prices? Or will they become worthless, and the holders receive nothing?

Any info appreciated! Thanks

[BigMac]

I have just written an extensive answer and when I went to get the code to supply the links it disappeared! Let's try again:

WARNING I am not an authorised finacial adviser. If you do not understand the position you should seek appropriate advice.

Venal (interesting name, by the way), the short answer is that if the Rock is nationalised shareholders will receive nothing.

If the Rock is sold to another buyer (e.g. Virgin) then shareholders will have to vote to accept whatever the buyer offers - whether that is higher or lower than the current share price.

If you want to make sure you receive something for your shares then you will have to sell them: at 09:11 this morning the mid-market price was 59p (down 11p today) with a bid price (i.e. the price you would receive per share if you sold them) of 58p.

I would expect most of today's papers to have extensive coverage of yesterda'ys EGM and, probably, a What happens next? feature/column as well - indeed, there were probably several at the weekend in the Money and/or Business sections of the papers (probably not the red-tops).

As examples, you might like to look at this (and follow any relevant links) from the Evening Standard or this from The Guardian.

Hope this helps.

[VenalWinfrey]

Thanks very much for the advice - big help!