Guy Hands has sold off-licence chain Threshers to a consortium led by Duke Street Capital founder Edmund Truell for a sum believed to be significantly less than the £225m he paid for it. Daily Telegraph. Financial Times
Hands bought Threshers in 2000 from Whitbread and Punch, while he was still at Nomura Banks’ Principal Finance division. It later became part of his Terra Firma vehicle.
He attempted to reinvigorate the chain by introducing a convenience store format into some stores but the business struggled to compete with supermarkets.
Terra Firma is thought to have made a profit from a the £200m sale-and-leaseback programme of Threshers’ freehold estate.