Olivant, the private equity group led by Luqman Arnold, may have pulled out of the race to rescue Northern Rock, the stricken UK mortgage bank, but that still leaves Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Northern Rock’s own board as potential proprietors – with nationalisation still a much talked about option.

But, while uncertainty abounds, the trustees of the bank’s £355m (€475m, $690m) pension fund are trying their best to plan for the future. Rather than adopting a wait-and-see approach over the future ownership of its Newcastle-based sponsor, the scheme has decided to act. In fact, the fund has been busy since the middle of October last year.