Sale of Rock to bring in an extra £538m

The Government is set to make a further £538m from the sale of Northern Rock to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Money.

UK Financial Investments said the Treasury had received a further £73m cash from the sale, in addition to the £747m received on completion. The additional payment had been linked to Northern Rock's net asset value on the completion date of 1 January, 2012.

Meanwhile, the body set up to wind down Northern Rock's loans has agreed to sell £465m of mortgage assets to Sir Richard's Virgin Money at par value.

The deals bring the total cash proceeds from the sale of Rock to £820m. The Government could receive more than £1bn in total, but that still represents a loss on the £1.4bn pumped into the lender by taxpayers.