COO to lead Terra Firma as veteran Guy Hands steps down

Private equity veteran Guy Hands is stepping down from his position as chief investment officer and chairman of Terra Firma Capital Partners, the firm he founded in 2002.

Paul Hatter, who joined Terra Firma as COO in June 2023 will now lead the company, with Richard Hands – Guy’s son – now being responsible for residential investments and new deals.

Guy Hands has been one of the most high profile private equity executives during the last three decades, initially making his name through his participation in a number of privatisations under the UK Conservative government of the 1990s.

He spun Terra Firma out of Nomura in 2002 and raised €2.1bn for its debut fund. To date, it has invested $18bn in 39 businesses with an aggregate enterprise value of more than $51bn.

Terra Firma may be best known for its failed investment in record company EMI in 2007, which it acquired in a £4.2bn deal only for the company to subsequently collapse.

Hands said that he will remain involved with the firm’s existing portfolio business and sit on the boards of a number of the firm's portfolio companies.

His exit follows the departure of CEO Vivek Ahuja who left in June 2023, as Hatter joined the firm. Ahuja only joined Terra Firma in 2020, replacing Andrew Geczy who abruptly left the firm after just three years in 2019.

Before joining Terra Firma, Hatter was group COO and managing director at litigation funder Harbour, having previously held COO roles at Circuitus Capital, The Investor Forum CIC, and UBS Investment Bank.