Guy Hands

Early career

Before arriving at Oxford, Hands started a business selling pictures. Once he was there, it became known as 'Artsake' and employed a number of his fellow students.

Hands started his City career in 1982 as a eurobond trader at Goldman Sachs. He was appointed Head of Eurobond trading in 1986 and later rose to become head of global asset structuring world-wide for Goldman's European division in 1990. In 1994, Hands left Goldman to found Nomura's Principal Finance Group, which focused on European private equity investments. Hands joined Nomura after three other banks, including Goldman, turned down his investment plan. At Nomura, Hands and his team completed over $20 billion of leveraged buyouts. By 2000, Hands was reported to have generated profits for the bank in excess of $1.9 billion, making him a star financier in London. Hands' most notable acquisitions at Nomura included Annington Homes, as well as William Hill, the bookmaker, and Angel Trains, the UK rolling stock company. As well, Hands effectively became the UK's biggest pub landlord through a series of acquisitions in the 1990s. In 1996, Hands played a central role in the sale of the Ministry of Defence's 57,400 homes for military personnel and their families to Annington Homes, which had been established earlier that year as a shell company by Nomura, making Annington the largest owner of residential property in England and Wales.

Other businesses

Hands and his wife own Hand Picked Hotels, a chain of 21 English country house properties, which is run by Julia Hands.

In 2017, Guy and Julia Hands agreed to acquire McDonald's Nordic operations. The Nordic countries consisted of approximately 435 restaurants, 95% of which are franchised. The deal would see Hands become the developmental licensee and master franchiser for McDonald's in the region.

In December 2020, Hands took a stake in ROXi, as part of a £13 million fundraiser led by Sun Capital Partners, a company managed by Hugh Osmond, the former owner of PizzaExpress and Center Parcs. ROXi had been founded by Rob Lewis in 2014.

While at Oxford, Hands became a friend of William Hague, who in 1984 was best man at his wedding to Julia Caroline Ablethorpe. The couple have two sons and two daughters. His wife's house in Kent, just outside Sevenoaks, was once presented to Winston Churchill, while their estate in Tuscany, Villa Saletta, produces wine and olive oil. The estate's wines have won numerous international awards.

In April 2009, in protest at high British taxes, Hands moved to Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It was reported in February 2010 that since then he had not visited the United Kingdom, and that members of his family were travelling to Guernsey to see him. In 2014, the Canadian writer Malcolm Gladwell called the move to Guernsey an "incredibly interesting pathology", viewing departure into tax exile as a significant reverse for Hands to set against the benefits of being immensely wealthy.

In May 2019, Hands admitted to The Sunday Times that he had a food addiction to roast potatoes and gravy and that he had sought treatment from hypnosis to combat it.

In 2021, Hands published ‘The Dealmaker: Lessons from a Life in Private Equity’, a personal account of his experiences from childhood to dealmaking. The Times labelled it as ‘the only book about private equity to read like a thriller’.

Hands has been increasingly vocal about the risks associated with climate change continuing and the huge difficulties and costs involved in stopping it.

Hands and his wife have donated millions of pounds to Mansfield College, Oxford since 1995. Mansfield hosts an annual Hands Lecture series. Since 2014, the Hands family has donated £2.2 million towards Mansfield's Love Lane building, which will house the University's new Institute of Human Rights.

Hands was named the 2018 Philanthropist of The Year at the annual Spear's Wealth Management Awards for his contributions to a number of charities.