Guy Hands to step down from buyout firm Terra Firm

Stepping down: Guy Hands

By Guy Hands, one of Britain’s most prominent financiers, is to step down from his private equity firm Terra Firma after more than 20 years.

In an internal memo to staff, Hands, who built his firm into one of Europe’s leading investors, said he had ‘vowed that I would retire from the firm ‘when I’m 64′, as per the eponymous Beatles song. That time has now come as I approach my 64th birthday this August’.

Hands’ three-decade career spanned a wide range of sectors. Terra Firma has invested £15.6billion in 39 businesses since it was founded in 1994 as part of Japanese investment bank Nomura. It was spun out of the bank in 2002.

His stint as head included ownership of record label EMI and care home operator Four Seasons Health Care.

The former ended in tears when EMI collapsed shortly after Terra Firma’s £4.2billion takeover in 2007, which wiped out around £1.8billion of the firm’s money. Hands then embarked on a high-profile legal crusade against investment bank Citigroup, alleging it had committed fraud against him. Citi denied the claims.

He dropped his claim in 2016 but not after it had cost £200m of his own money.

The debacle left Terra Firma struggling to raise funds despite a boom in the private equity sector bolstered by low interest rates, leaving it trailing rivals.

The ownership of Four Seasons also ended in disaster when it collapsed into administration in 2019.

In May, Hands was stung again after his firm Annington Homes lost a legal challenge against the Government to prevent the Ministry of Defence from taking back ownership of tens of thousands of homes that were privatised in 1996 for military families.

Terra Firma’s current portfolio includes the former housebuilding arm of construction group Kier and German group Welcome Hotels.

Hands said he would still be involved with his family office, Hands Family Investments, Sky News reported.

‘To be clear, I will continue to be involved in the portfolio businesses that are Hands Family Investments… I will therefore continue to sit on the boards that work with those investments,’ he said.

An outspoken and occasionally controversial figure, Hands was a fierce critic of Brexit and previously said the investment outlook for Britain had been deteriorating.

He also raised eyebrows in 2020 when he hit out at his fellow dealmakers for being too focused on how much money they made rather than improving companies and creating new jobs.