Sir Roger Michael De Haan,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

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

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

group of companies, best known for selling holidays to the over-50s market. 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 buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

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

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port 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 and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

Harbour for £11 million. 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. It was once part of Saga Radio Group although it became independent in 2004. It operated as a sister station to Saga Digital radio. The line up featured a variety of presenters including David ...

and Saga Radio (Digital), but following continuing heavy losses took the decision 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 The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

''. During the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 4 ...

, De Haan donated £125,000 to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and £3,000 to

Damian Collins Damian Noel Thomas Collins (born 4 February 1974) is a British Conservative Party politician who formerly served as Minister for Tech and the Digital Economy in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport between July and October 2022. ...

, the Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe.

Honours

In 2003/2004 he was awarded an

honorary fellowship Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

Canterbury Christ Church University , mottoeng = The truth shall set you free , established = 2005 – gained University status 1962 – teacher training college , type = Public , religious_affiliation = Church of England , city ...

. 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 contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established 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 knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. 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