The billionaire co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown is to make a surprise return to its board.
The Financial Times reports that outspoken Peter Hargreaves (pictured, left), who sold half of his 20% stake in the investment platform during its £5.4bn private equity buyout – scooping £500m – has agreed to return as a non-executive director.
Hargreaves is also said to have nominated his son Robert, who formerly worked in the company, to become a board observer, without voting rights.
Hargreaves senior founded Bristol-based Hargreaves Lansdown in 1981 with Stephen Lansdown (pictured, right) and stepped down as a director a decade ago. Following the sale to a consortium including CVC, Nordic Capital and Platinum Ivy, the latter of which is owned by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, Lansdown sold his near-6% stake in the firm.
Before the takeover Hargreaves slammed its former management team for presiding over a “shambles” which saw its share price plummet from £24 in 2019 to £7 in 2024.
“It’s a disgrace that it’s come to this. It was classified as one of the best-run companies in the UK 10 years ago,” said Hargreaves at the time.
The board of the company – which claims to execute 34% of trades in UK companies and 56% of overseas trades, with 1.8m customers – stepped down at the end of March, with Bruce Hemphill, former boss of Old Mutual, taking over from Alison Platt as chair.
Peter Rutland, managing partner at CVC, joined as a director.