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Northern Rock shares climbed in early trading this morning, amid claims that two more US investment firms have expressed interest in the troubled bank.

The Blackstone group and Apollo Management both expressed interest in Newcastle-based lender Northern Rock last week, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

Shares in Northern Rock were up 10.4 per cent at 175p by 08:15 BST following the claim made in the Journal, which cited unidentified sources close to the matter.

Meanwhile reports are continuing to claim that two further US investment firms, JC Flowers and Cerberus, are also interested in Northern Rock.

In addition weekend press reports said separate plans were in hand to keep the UK's fifth-largest mortgage lender as an independent entity, with its current board intact.

Analysts had previously suggested that Northern Rock had no future in its existing form, with the company's brand name having been damaged by last month's high-profile run on the bank.

Savers rushed to withdraw their cash from the bank after the lender revealed that it had asked the Bank of England to provide it with an emergency loan in the wake of an ongoing global credit crunch.

Northern Rock subsequently said that it was in "preliminary discussions with selected parties" over its future.

But reports claim that US investment banks Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are trying to put together a package of £10 billion of loans for Northern Rock, to allow the company to continue trading in its present form.

It is claimed that the money would be made available at a lower rate of interest than the 6.75 per cent rate Northern Rock is currently being charged by the Bank of England.

Last week figures contained within the central bank's latest accounts prompted speculation that Northern Rock had borrowed additional cash from the institution, with the lender now estimated to have been granted some £10.7 billion in loans.