UK government wins right to take back control of military homes worth £8bn

High court deals blow to Guy Hands's Annington Property with ruling that privatisation was bad deal'

The UK government has won the right to take back control of thousands of military homes worth 8bn after a court ruled that the previous privatisation was a bad deal" for the government, in a significant blow to the private equity investor Guy Hands.

London's high court ruled on Monday that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has the right to buy back the remaining 38,000 homes, which were bought in 1996 by Annington, a group of companies ultimately controlled by Hands, for 1.7bn.