What provoked the master of the universe to repent so publicly?

Chris Blackhurst is amused by Guy Hands’ apparent volte-face and suspicious of its timing. Will he put his money where his mouth is?

Hands finds himself at that stage when he’s thinking about reputation and legacy

(Rex)

Like many I suspect I was not alone in doing a double take when I read the words from Guy Hands. The private equity tycoon said his industry “had lost sight of the aim of value creation”. Said the Terra Firma founder: “The culture today in most investment and financial businesses is not fit for purpose for the world we now live in.”

Speaking at the London School of Economics, Hands said he realised in 2017 that, “most of the people working in Terra Firma were only there for the money” and were unhappy. “I offered less money and now, two and a half years later at Terra Firma, 50 per cent of the people who were there in 2017 have left. We have forged a new vision and a new mission and while we have not quite got it right yet, people are far happier.”

Hands claimed the wider industry had stopped talking about “how our companies are performing, how many jobs we’re creating and what we are doing to improve the environment, reduce social injustice and fight corruption”.