Allan Hawkins

"The faces of New Zealanders such as Alan Gibbs, Trevor Farmer, David Richwhite, Michael Fay, Bruce Judge, Bob Jones, Gary Lane and Allan Hawkins were, for a time, as familiar as our biggest sports stars."

"business world’s high-flyers, including Ron Brierley, Frank Renouf, Allan Hawkins, Alan Gibbs, Bob Jones, Michael Fay, David Richwhite, Colin Reynolds and Bruce Judge."

"Tapper recalls that it was Coote who suggested that if they brought Allan Hawkins in, his name alone would add two cents to the share price at listing. Hawkins had just launched Equiticorp and was, in Heatley’s words, ‘the golden boy of the finance scene’. Equiticorp itself was booming. Hawkins later plummeted from grace to end up in jail after Equiticorp failed, but that was in a future no one at Rainbow could then imagine. ‘We went to see him and asked if he’d be chairman if we floated,’ Heatley remembers. ‘He sort of yawned, but he must have taken a bit of shine to us because he said yes.’"

"Sometimes, the corporations created their own opportunities. Omnicorp was symbolic of the time. It was New Zealand’s largest public float when it listed in 1985, with its three major shareholders being Equiticorp and Chase Corporation, each with a 20 per cent stake, and Rainbow Corporation with 15 per cent. The remaining 45 per cent sold to the public. Its directors were Heatley, Allan Hawkins, Peter Francis and Colin Reynolds. The names of the directors and the shareholding by their respective companies were all that Omnicorp had to its name besides its issued capital of $50 million. It had no other assets and no stated raison d’être except to allow its three major shareholders to make investments they could not make individually. Although it was not said publicly at the time, the main shareholders were interested in acquiring Fletcher Challenge if they could. It never happened. But whatever its intentions, or lack of them, investors flocked and its 50c shares went straight to $1.50 on listing."