The ‘£80million alpha male’ chairman who never loses out

ROB Templeman has been a top executive in the private equity world for 20 years.

His stint as chairman of the RAC follows a controversial spell as chief executive of Debenhams, which finally closed its doors this month after struggling with massive debts built up under buy-out owners.

The 63-year-old made his name in the 1990s when he ran the furniture company Harveys, owned by Lord Harris of Peckham, a Tory life peer and party donor.

In 2001, he was made chief executive of Homebase following its £750million sale by Sainsbury’s to private equity firm Schroders – which later became Permira.

Permira quickly made a big profit – offloading Homebase to Great Universal Stores for £900million in 2002.

Mr Templeman – known in City circles as an ‘alpha male’ and with a fortune estimated at £79million – became executive chairman at Halfords when it was bought by CVC Capital for £427million in 2002.

Efficiency savings followed and when Halfords was relisted on the stock market, Mr Templeman, pictured above, is said to have shared in a £30million windfall with three other directors.

He took over at Debenhams in 2003 and was paid £7.9million in salary over eight years. According to a Financial Times report, the married father of two may also have made as much as £41million from its stock market listing in 2006.

After leaving Debenhams he moved to the British Retail Consortium and then the RAC – becoming reunited with CVC after it took over the motoring group in late 2015.