Guy Hands

Guy is the Founder of Terra Firma. He was also the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer until he stepped away from the firm on 31 July 2023.

Guy remains involved in Terra Firma’s portfolio businesses where there is an underlying investment from the Hands Family Office, as well as in the legacy fund investment Annington. He continues to sit on the boards of the Terra Firma funds that work with these investments.

Guy’s career in finance spans over four decades. He started his career with Goldman Sachs International where he went on to become Head of Eurobond Trading and subsequently Head of Goldman Sachs’ Global Asset Structuring Group.

He joined Nomura International plc in 1994, where he established the Principal Finance Group (‘PFG’). PFG undertook ground-breaking deals involving trains, housing and pubs, among other areas, using securitised debt to finance acquisitions. In 2002, he led the spin-out of PFG to form Terra Firma.

Since 1994, Guy has overseen the investment of more than €18 billion in 39 businesses with a total enterprise value of more than €51 billion.

Guy has an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Mansfield College, Oxford University. He was elected a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2000 in recognition of his achievements. In 2012, Guy was named the 20th most influential figure in Private Equity International’s ‘100 Most Influential of the Decade’.

In 2021 he published ‘The Dealmaker: Lessons from a Life in Private Equity’, an honest account of his experiences from childhood to deal making, and how they have shaped his thinking. The Times labelled it as ‘the only book about private equity to read like a thriller.’

Guy is the President of ‘Access for Excellence’, a campaign based at Mansfield College, Oxford which promotes the broadest possible access to higher education in the UK. He is a Bancroft Fellow of Mansfield College and supports the college’s Annual Hands Lecture. He is also a member of the University of Oxford Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors. Additionally, Guy is a Fellow of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.