Superb country house locations combined with excellent service and facilities make Hayley the UK's leading operator of prestige conference centres. 3i's support helped them to migrate their successful brand to Europe.

Outstanding service in superb locations
A Hayley Conference Centre offers the ideal setting for a prestigious meeting or training event. With eight country-house locations across the heart of England, the brand has evolved a unique appeal to blue-chip clients. Hayley’s investment in technology gives its customers state-of-the-art facilities, while ‘The Hayley Way’ helps the company recruit and develop employees who deliver the highest standards of service. Combined with fine dining, and excellent sports and recreational facilities, Hayley is clearly the premium brand in UK conference centres. Each centre has at least 30 conference rooms and 150 bedrooms. During the week, the centres focus exclusively on events for high-end business clientele but at the weekends the attractive locations provide the perfect backdrops for weddings.

Reinvesting in a growing business
Hayley’s roots go back to 1991, when Alan English opened the company’s first centre, in Northampton. 3i invested in the start-up business and supported Hayley’s growth for the next eight years. In 1999, 3i sold its holding to Legal & General Ventures (LGV) but remained in contact with Alan English and was keen to renew participation once LGV decided to realise their stake in 2005. Richard Bishop led 3i’s reinvestment and subsequently joined Hayley’s Board: “We saw that this was a leading brand in a strongly growing market. High-end business clients were showing an increasing appetite for prestige facilities, and dedicated conference centres were winning market share at the expense of general hotels. In addition, Hayley was keen to migrate its successful model from the UK to continental Europe, and 3i’s international network was well placed to help.”

European expansion
In September 2005, 3i invested €56m to acquire a significant minority holding in Hayley. One of the immediate priorities was to bring the international strategy to life. Norman Bellone explains the  contribution 3i made: “We decided to make France the first location for our expansion into Europe and it was tremendously valuable to have the support of a 3i team based in Paris with intimate local knowledge. They helped us to explore and evaluate the options and put us in contact with local advisers.” “With 3i’s support, we decided against entering the market through acquisition and chose to create our own purpose-built facility instead. 3i’s French team helped us put the finance in place, and Hayley’s first European venue, at Château de Saint Just, near Paris, is on course to open in 2008.”

Continuing to build the UK business
As Hayley prepared to take its first steps in Europe, the management team were determined to continue expanding its core business in the UK. In Richard Bishop’s words: “With the conference market growing strongly, there was clearly scope to add extra capacity. The price of prestigious country houses was increasing rapidly, so rather than purchasing an additional site, Hayley expanded two of its existing centres, in Swindon and Windsor. At the same time, it was important to ensure a flow of high-quality management data in a market where rates can change quickly. We enhanced the information provided to the Board, making it much more granular, so that pricing and promotion decisions could be taken based on a detailed knowledge of trends in each of the eight locations.”

A new future with Principal Hotels
By growing capacity and focusing on service, Hayley delivered excellent performance across a range of measures. In 2006, Hayley was the only hospitality company to feature in the Sunday Times list of  'Top 100 Companies to Work For’ and was voted Number One Specialist Conference Brand in a survey conducted by BDRC, one of the UK’s largest independent research organisations. With the European strategy firmly on track and the UK business thriving, it was time for a new partner to support Hayley’s continued progress. In May 2007, the shareholders agreed to sell to Principal Hotels, who operate a collection of hotels in key UK locations. The price reflected a doubling of Hayley’s value since 3i’s reinvestment in 2005 and earned 3i an IRR of 120%.

Print this page