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Shares in beleaguered lender Northern Rock dipped today after a report suggested one of the bank's suitors was prepared to abandon its bid.

US private equity firm JC Flowers has threatened to withdraw its interest in the Newcastle-based company due to frustration over the Treasury's failure to return its calls, Sky News claims.

An unnamed source told the news provider the US firm had revised its initial offer for Northern Rock in response to two concerns previously raised by the government, but indicated the Treasury had yet to respond to the company's request for a meeting to discuss the details.

It is reported JC Flowers would immediately pay back £15 billion of the cash Northern Rock has borrowed from the Bank of England under the terms of its proposed offer - £4 billion more than preferred bidder Virgin has pledged.

A consortium led by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin group was named by Northern Rock as its preferred bidder earlier this week, two months after the lender turned to the Bank of England for an emergency loan.

Under Virgin's indicative proposal, £11 billion of the cash borrowed by Northern Rock from the central bank would be repaid on the completion of a sale of the firm.

But two of Northern Rock's key shareholders, investment management firm RAB Capital and hedge fund SRM, have indicated their opposition to the Virgin bid, amid concerns the offer undervalues the troubled lender and does not provide acceptable terms for investors.

In a newspaper interview today, SRM head Jon Wood reportedly accused Northern Rock chairman Bryan Sanderson of trying to "scare" people into accepting Virgin's bid.

Meanwhile it has been suggested Northern Rock's total borrowing from the Bank of England has reached almost £30 billion. Speculation about the level of the lender's debt came after the central bank released new balance sheet data yesterday.

Northern Rock was forced to turn to the Bank of England for an emergency loan in September, having been unable to raise sufficient funds on the wholesale money markets due to a global credit crunch.

The move prompted the first run on a British bank in almost 150 years and forced the government to guarantee the savings of Northern Rock customers to restore confidence in the UK banking system in the wake of the damaging incident.