Steve Hayes is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

, and was the owner of

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

side

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

. Originally a

double glazing Insulating glass (IG) consists of two or more glass window panes separated by a space to reduce heat transfer across a part of the building envelope. A window with insulating glass is commonly known as double glazing or a double-paned window, ...

salesman, Hayes also worked for his father-in-law selling secondary

mortgages A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...

. In 1997 with David Cowham he founded loans.co.uk, a

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

headquartered

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

. Hayes became Chief Executive, expanding the firm to become the UK's then leading finance broker, on an earnings package of £5.5million in 2004/2005. In June 2005, Cowham and Hayes sold loans.co.uk to

MBNA MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006. History The former Maryland National ...

for an undisclosed amount, reported to be worth £50million to each partner. Hayes became a 25% shareholder through an initial £250,000 investment in

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in June 2004, when the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club became a plc, and later became

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. Hayes bought an 11.6% stake in London Wasps Holdings Ltd in August 2007, and became chairman of

Lawrence Dallaglio Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born 10 August 1972), known as Lawrence Dallaglio, is an English retired rugby union player, former captain of England, and 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame. He played as a flanker or number eight ...

's benefit committee. In December 2008, Hayes bought

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

founder Chris Wright's controlling interest and John O'Connell's shareholding in London Wasps to take complete control, and in July 2009, following a shareholders' meeting, he took full ownership of

, in the process writing off £3m of the club's debt to him in exchange for shares. Between 2009-2012 Hayes’ plan to build a new 17,500 stadium and destination venue, on Booker Airfield High Wycombe, for both clubs, was backed by Wycombe District Council. When Lesley Clarke stepped down as Leader, his replacement Alex Collingwood led a successful campaign against the plans. In June 2012, Hayes sold the football club to Wycombe Wanderers Trust and the rugby club to David Thorn. Between 2014-2020, Hayes was Chairman and a founding shareholder of Open Property Group that became the most successful cash property buyers in the UK, creating a portfolio of 100+ rental properties, worth in excess of £10M. Since 2018 Hayes has been running Open Limited, his own small property development business, whilst also active as a non-executive director to several other SMEs.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English businesspeople Wycombe Wanderers F.C. Wasps RFC English football chairmen and investors English rugby union chairmen and investors {{UK-business-bio-stub