Northern Rock’s embattled savers will have to wait until next year to find out the future of their mortgage bank, its chairman confirmed yesterday.

After a weekend awash with rumours about delays in the timetable for finalising financing for a new owner, Bryan Sanderson said in a radio interview that no action would be taken “this side of Christmas”.

Banks being lined up to provide funding for a repayment of as much as £15 billion of the Rock’s Bank of England borrowings signalled at the weekend that they were not yet ready to commit financing to either of three potential buyers.

Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is the Rock board’s preferred bidder, but Virgin faces competition from Olivant, an investment firm run by Luqman Arnold, the former chief executive of Abbey National, the mortgage lender. It is thought that a third bidding consortium led by Cerberus, the buyout firm, is waiting in the wings with a bid that would be fronted by Jonathan Bloomer, the former boss of Prudential, the insurer. Sources indicated yesterday that Cerberus, if still interested, was a way behind the other bidders.

All three buyers would repay at least £10 billion of the Rock’s debt to the Bank immediately.

The delay will be seen as a blow to Virgin, which has stated its desire to formalise its bid plan before the Christmas break.

Northern Rock said: “Things are progressing well, but as Mr Sanderson indicated it is unlikely that there will be any definite conclusion before Christmas. This is entirely consistent with previous guidance that we expect the process to be completed by February.” Rock shares fell 0.6p to 110p.

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