The private equity tycoon says that the culture in most investment and financial businesses is “not fit for purpose”

Guy Hands has attacked the culture of the buyout industry and said that many people who used to work at his Terra Firma business were there only for the money.

The private equity tycoon said that the industry “had lost sight of the aim of value creation” and argued that “the culture today in most investment and financial businesses is not fit for purpose for the world we now live in”.

The criticisms are expecially stinging given that Mr Hands, 60, was at the forefront of the sector’s development.

He rose to fame at Nomura, the Japanese bank, before setting up his Terra Firma buyout house in 2002. Terra Firma was a leading light of the industry before it embarked on a £4 billion acquisition