London, 27 January 2010  Quayle Munro Limited, the UK merchant bank, is pleased to announce that it has advised Virgin Money Holdings (UK) Limited on its takeover offer for Church House Trust Plc, a regional private bank in Somerset, for approximately £12.3 million.  Virgin Money announced today that all the conditions of the offer have been satisfied and therefore it has been declared unconditional in all respects.  Quayle Munro originated the transaction and advised Virgin Money on the structuring and execution of the offer, as well as the FSA change of control application process.

Andreas Wesemann, Managing Director at Quayle Munro, commented:
“Quayle Munro is delighted to have advised Virgin Money on the successful bid for Church House Trust.  Virgin Money is ideally positioned to take advantage of the shake-up of the financial services sector by making banking simpler and better.  Consumer demand for Virgin Money to enter the banking market is significant.  We are very confident that Virgin Money will meet those expectations and develop into a major force in the sector.”

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, said:
“The financial crisis has tarnished the reputation of UK banks. Virgin Money will provide a better, different form of banking to its customers, increasing competition in the sector.  Our aim is to make ‘everyone better off’ in the way we do business by offering good value to customers, treating employees well, making a positive contribution to society and delivering a growing profit to shareholders.  Our approach to banking is founded on developing a sustainable, savings-based business.  We see the acquisition of Church House Trust as a strong and sensible first step in delivering Virgin Money’s banking ambition.”


For further information:

Andreas Wesemann, Quayle Munro
Tel: +44 20 7907 4200

John Kiely/Gemma Froggatt, Smithfield
Tel: +44 20 7360 4900


Notes to Editors:

Quayle Munro (www.quaylemunro.com) is an AIM-listed independent merchant bank, active in corporate finance, public finance, specialist fund management and investment on its own account.  The Quayle Munro Financial Institutions Group has in-depth expertise in advising financial institutions on a wide range of strategic transactions, equity and debt financings, reorganisations, and regulatory matters.  Quayle Munro has offices in London, Edinburgh and New York.

Virgin Money is a successful and rapidly growing financial services business in the UK. Virgin Money reported a 41 per cent. increase in operating profit in 2008.  Virgin Money currently has over 2.5million customers and offers payment cards (credit cards and prepaid cards), savings and investment products (stakeholder pensions, children’s pensions, employers pensions, FTSE tracker ISA, bond and gilt ISA, climate change ISA, cash ISA, and unit trusts), general insurance products (motor, home, travel, and pet) and life assurance products to the UK market.  Virgin Money has over £2 billion of funds under management and over 2.3 million Virgin Money cards in issue.  The business was founded in 1995 and has since developed a reputation for innovation and excellent customer service.  It is part of the Virgin group of companies, an internationally recognised branded investment group, which has interests in over 200 companies in a broad range of sectors including transport, communications, financial services and health and wellness.