The bank that purchased Northern Rock Plc, Virgin Money Holdings UK, is in the process of searching for advisers to provide assistance for its initial public offer. The said move was confirmed by an anonymous source with personal knowledge on the matter.

This is a move at the very earliest stage, as there have been no shortlisted names or a pegged date set for the said IPO. 

Northern Rock was nationalized after it suffered the ignominy of a bank run in 2008, a first in the UK after more than a hundred years. In 2011, Virgin Money had agreed to purchase part of the bank for GBP747 million or US$1.2 billion. Soon after, the bank was divided, leaving taxpayers with shareholdings in the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and the Lloyds Banking Group Plc as well as other mortgage assets.

According to the deal, the government would be receiving around GBP80 million should Virgin run a profitable IPO within five years from its purchase back in 2011. This was confirmed by the management firm of the UK during that time, UK Financial Investments.