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National round-up: Northern Rock, Nandos, Vauxhall, Santander

NORTHERN Rock is reportedly hoping to repay around two-thirds of its £22.5bn government loan within the next five or six years as it looks to sell portfolios of mortgages rather than simply rely on borrowers repaying their debt.

The bank had previously indicated that the loan it received as part of its government rescue package in 2008 would gradually reduce over time, driven mainly by mortgage book redemptions.

However, according to the FT, Northern Rock plans to accelerate this process by selling off tranches of loans to investors such as private equity groups and funds that have been set up to target distressed assets in the wake of the financial crisis.

THE UK arm of chicken restaurant chain Nando’s has agreed a £30m deal to buy a rival firm.

It plans to take over Clapham House Group, the company behind Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) and The Real Greek.

Nando’s said that Clapham’s brands were struggling in the volatile market and needed its investment and expertise.

There are more than 230 Nando’s restaurant in the UK and Irish Republic while there are 53 GBK branches.

THE future of a car plant in Bedfordshire looks to have been secured after an announcement that work on vans will continue.

There had been fears that the Vauxhall factory in Luton could close under job cut plans outlined by owner General Motors (GM) in November 2009.

Vauxhall and Renault have now announced they will continue to work together on the next generation of the Vivaro van.

SANTANDER, the Spanish bank which recently bought 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland, looks set to postpone plans to float all or part of its UK business until next year.

The City had been anticipating an initial public offering (IPO) of the UK operation, which includes Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, this autumn.

But sources said on the weekend that this was now “highly unlikely” and a floatation was not likely to take place until next spring - if at all.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .