2.4 If an administrator was unable to find a suitable new private sector investor for NATS, a potential outcome could have been that the Company would have eventually returned to public sector ownership and management. Although there was legal provision for administration, the Department did not want this to happen because it would have reversed the PPP process and returned NATS to Government ownership and control. This in turn could have meant that NATS' customers would have had to shoulder the entire financial burden. More widely, it would also have had adverse consequences for the wider initiative to develop the use of Public Private Partnerships in the public sector.