The veteran private equity investor Guy Hands is, at the age of 61, slowly beginning to wind down the funds of Terra Firma Capital Partners, the firm that he founded almost 20 years ago.

It now holds just eight portfolio companies, down from a peak of 17 a decade ago. Hands insists this does not mean that he is about to retire but admits he would be glad to reduce his working week to 40 hours - from the 80 to 90 a week that he has been working since the pandemic got underway.