'DON'T PANIC' MESSAGE FROM BUY-TO-LET LENDER PARAGON.

PARAGON is not another Northern Rock waiting to happen, the boss of the buy-to-let specialist insisted today. Attempting to stem a sell-off in the shares in the secondary mortgage lender, chief executive Nigel Terrington released an upbeat trading statement and told the City: "Where's the panic, guys?" Paragon, which has £10 billion of money out to borrowers, said its funding is backed by a £1.8 billion "warehouse" facility, a guaranteed financing arrangement with a committee of leading banks including Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, for which it pays a premium. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]