Takeover may be Rock's only hope

By Sean Farrell, Financial EditorPublished: 15 September 2007Northern Rock, the once-booming mortgage bank, has a choice between stagnating or being taken over – if anyone will buy it just as the housing market slows down.Adam Applegarth, the bank's chief executive, yesterday accepted that Northern Rock's days of rapid growth were over after it was forced to ask the Bank of England for emergency