The sale brings to £5billion the profits Hands has made from the collection of businesses he bought from his former employer, investment bank Nomura.

Hands acquired Thresher for £225million from Whitbread when he worked for Nomura and was bel­ieved to have made a “tidy profit” from yesterday’s sale to Edward Truell, the former head of private equity group Duke Street Capital. The deal only concerned the brands and operating side of the business, which went for more than £25million.

Terra Firma had already made £200million by selling and leasing back the property side, which includes the off-licence chains Wine Rack and Scottish Haddows.

The company employs 12,000 people and boasts that more than half the UK’s population lives within a 10-minute walk of one of its stores.

The biggest profit Terra Firma has made from its former Nomura businesses was £1billion from train leasing company Angel Trains.