By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
Sir Richard Branson's banking arm will unveil plans for a stock market listing on Thursday that will value the acquirer of Northern Rock at up to £2bn.
Sky News has learnt that Virgin Money is finalising the appointments of Barclays, Citi and KBW to roles as bookrunners on the initial public offering (IPO), which will seek to raise hundreds of millions of pounds.
The trio of banks will work alongside Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch on the deal, sources said.
A successful flotation would make Virgin Money the fourth bank to float this year, following the demerger of TSB from Lloyds Banking Group and the listings of OneSavings and Aldermore, which announced its own plans earlier this week.
Insiders said that Virgin Money was likely to seek a valuation for its shares at a premium to that of TSB, partly reflecting the strength of the bank's brand.
The board of Sir Richard's financial services business had been expected to wait until next year to press the button on a float, but Sky News revealed last week that an announcement was imminent.
Scotland's rejection of independence in last month's referendum and Virgin Money's strong recent trading has persuaded the bank's board to press ahead with a flotation now.
Virgin Group and WL Ross, a US-based investment vehicle, collectively own just over 90% of the bank, and will reduce their stakes in order to comply with listing authorities' requirements relating to the number of shares which must be freely floated.
However, both investors will retain very substantial stakes, with Virgin Money keen to sell new shares to outside investors.
Sir Richard's practice of floating companies in which Virgin Group owns a stake is well-established, having been used at companies such as Virgin Media and Virgin America, his US airline.
The Government will receive a £50m payment as a consequence of the deal struck between Virgin Money and the Treasury when the bank took control of Northern Rock in 2011.
Virgin Money, which employs more than 2,500 people, reported this month that first-half pre-tax profit nearly quadrupled from £13.1m last year to £59.7m in 2014.
It also announced the appointment of Glen Moreno, who chairs Pearson, parent company of the Financial Times, as its next chairman.
Virgin Money is run by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, a widely respected executive who would become the first woman at the helm of a publicly-listed UK bank if it completes its flotation.
Based in Newcastle, where Northern Rock's head office was located, Virgin Money has more than four million customers, and has just launched into the current account market.
Virgin Money could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
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