Hands’ £38m for wife’s hotels

PRIVATE equity baron Guy Hands has injected £38million into the hotel chain run by his wife Julia after it made a £19million loss last year.

Turnover for Hand Picked Hotels, which operates country house and spa hotels across the UK and the Channel Islands, fell by 60 per cent to £22.6million over the year to November 26 last year due to Covid lockdown closures.

New financial documents show the £38million investment by Hands, the founder of investment firm Terra Firma, paid off £30million bank debt with the rest used to ‘support the group’s working capital’.

Julia Hands, a former lawyer, set up the business in 2001 after buying 16 hotels from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. It now has 21 sites after buying three hotels in September. Directors said demand had been ‘buoyant’ since Covid restrictions were lifted.