<div id="readability-page-1"><div><div><p>The Savile Row home of luxury menswear tailor Gieves &amp; Hawkes has been snapped up for £31m by a Danish catheter billionaire.</p><p>Niels Peter Louis-Hansen, the deputy chairman of medical device maker Coloplast, has bought 1 Savile Row from Hong Kong investor Wing Tai Properties, according to stock exchange filings.</p><p>Wing Tai said the sale was “a good opportunity for the company to realise its investment at a reasonable price”.</p><p>The Savile Row tailor, which traces its roots back to 1771 and has outfitted Lord Nelson, Sir Winston Churchill and the King, was acquired by Hong Kong conglomerate Trinity in 2012 from Wing Tai, although filings show the latter kept the freehold to its home.</p></div></div><div><div><p>Gieves &amp; Hawkes is now owned by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, which acquired the brand after Trinity collapsed into liquidation in 2022. Frasers holds a store lease running to 2038.</p><p>Mr Louis-Hansen, 78, amassed his fortune mainly through his stake in Coloplast, which was founded by his father, Aage Louis-Hansen, in 1957. His net worth is estimated at around $3.7bn (£2.7bn) by Forbes.</p><p>After his father’s death in 1966, the billionaire became involved in the family business, remaining a shareholder as the company grew to become a major provider of colostomy, continence and urology care products, including colostomy bags and catheters.</p><p>He owns around a fifth of Coloplast, as well as a stake in Ambu, another Danish medical device company and in biotech company ViroGates.</p><p>The Mayfair property, which consists of around 14,000 sq ft of office and retail space, was built in 1733 as a grand townhouse.</p><p>It houses a bespoke workshop, made-to-measure and military departments and archive rooms.</p><p>Designed by William Kent, one of the leading architects of early Georgian Britain, the townhouse was originally home to Lord Fairfax, the royal commissioner of customs for King George III, before being transferred to the Dukes of Devonshire in 1756.</p><p>From 1870, the address served as the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society, where some of the greatest expeditions in history were planned and debated. These included the exploration of Africa and the race for the poles.</p><p>The building’s historic Map Room features an iron-balustraded gallery, fluted Ionic columns and an antique glass ceiling.</p><p>In 1913, Hawkes &amp; Co, a leading military and court tailors in London, bought the townhouse.</p><p>After fellow military tailor Gieves acquired Hawkes in 1974, the pair subsequently made the property its headquarters. Both have been royal tailors since 1789.</p></div></div></div>

FRAS

<p>Danish catheter billionaire Niels Peter Louis-Hansen purchased Gieves & Hawkes' historic Savile Row headquarters for £31m from Hong Kong investor Wing Tai Properties. The 14,000 sq ft building, originally built in 1733 and later home to the Royal Geographical Society, serves as the brand's HQ. Gieves & Hawkes is currently owned by Frasers Group, which holds a lease until 2038 following Trinity's collapse.</p>

Gieves & Hawkes’s Savile Row home sold to Danish catheter tycoon