Nationwide building society has revealed a £2.3bn gain from its takeover of Virgin Money, prompting accusations that Virgin’s bosses decided to “take the money and run” after losing faith in the ex-chief executive David Duffy.
The building society’s bosses hailed the terms of the deal on Wednesday, as it published its final set of results as a standalone brand. Although the £2.8bn it paid for Virgin Money represented a premium on the target-bank’s share price – and its £2bn market valuation prior to the bid, according to Guardian calculations – it ended up being a “significant” discount compared with the actual value of Virgin Money’s assets.
