Sir Roger Michael De Haan,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, DL (born October 1948, Northampton) is the son of the late Sidney De Haan, who created the

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

group of companies, best known for selling holidays to the over-50s market.

Business career

De Haan took over Saga in 1984 when his father retired, and then ran the company with his brother Peter for a further twenty years, launching Saga-branded radio stations to accompany the group's holidays and financial services. He chose to leave the business in 2004, selling the entire Saga Group (which included insurance and holiday businesses) to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

for £1.35 billion, although he continued to run some of the radio stations himself. In that year he bought

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

Harbour for £11 million. The Folkestone Harbour and Seafront Development Company is promoting regeneration schemes for the area. The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust was established in 1978, offering charitable support to a variety of charities and community organisations, mostly in the area around Folkestone and south east Kent. Following the sale of Saga, he retained ownership of two digital radio stations,

PrimeTime Radio PrimeTime Radio was a national UK radio station. Launched in 2000, it was part of Saga Radio Group until it became independent in 2004. It operated as a sister station to Saga DAB radio, Saga Digital radio. The line up featured a variety of pres ...

and Saga Radio (Digital), but following continuing heavy losses decided to close them in 2006.

Wealth

He regularly appears in the Sunday Times' ' rich list'. In April 2016, his net worth was estimated at £900 million, according to the '' Sunday Times Rich List''. During the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 12 December 2019, with 47,074,800 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons of the Un ...

, De Haan donated £125,000 to the Conservative Party and £3,000 to Damian Collins, the Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe.

Honours

In 2003/2004 he was awarded an honorary fellowship of

Canterbury Christ Church University Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) is a Public university, public research university located in Canterbury, Kent, England. Founded as a Church of England college for teacher training in 1962, it was granted university status in 2005. ...

. De Haan was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in 2004 for services to business, education and charity in 2004 and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in the 2014 New Years Honours List for services to education and to charity in Kent and overseas.

References

External links

Independent – Announcement of retirement from Saga (November 2003)

* ttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1558155/From-small-town-to-global-success-story.html Telegraph – Interview with Clive Aslet (July 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:De Haan, Roger 1948 births Living people People educated at Seaford College English businesspeople English billionaires Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy lieutenants of Kent Knights Bachelor People from Northampton Conservative Party (UK) donors Businesspeople awarded knighthoods