London, 6 April 2010  Quayle Munro Limited, the UK merchant bank, is pleased to announce that it has advised the Virgin Group on the investment by WL Ross & Co LLC (“WL Ross”) in Virgin Money Holdings (UK) Limited (“Virgin Money”). Under the agreed terms, WL Ross will commit to £100m of new capital to Virgin Money and will become a 21% shareholder in the company. The transaction and related board appointments remain subject to FSA approval. The strategic investment by WL Ross will provide new capital to allow Virgin Money to accelerate the expansion of its full-service retail bank and the creation of a branch network. It also provides WL Ross with the option for further investment should an appropriate acquisition opportunity present itself.

Andreas Wesemann, Managing Director at Quayle Munro, commented: “Quayle Munro is delighted to have advised the Virgin Group on the WL Ross investment in Virgin Money. The long-term relationship that Quayle Munro has had with Virgin typifies the kind of partnership we are seeking to develop with our clients – where we aim to contribute to the successful development of a business over the course of many years through strategic transactions as well as organic growth initiatives and investments. We are convinced that Virgin Money will develop into a major force in UK banking in the future.”

Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, said: “I am delighted that WL Ross has decided to invest and partner in our vision for a new way of banking. Our ambition is to make everyone better off through good value and transparent products backed by great customer experience.”

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, said: “The investment from WL Ross is a significant endorsement of our banking plans and will help Virgin Money build a real banking alternative for consumers in the UK market.”

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.

The Virgin Group of companies is 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.

Virgin Money is Virgin’s banking arm and a successful and rapidly growing financial services business in the UK. It 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 acquired Church House Trust Plc in January 2010.