Lane

"For Rainbow, the pleasure of sealing the Woolworths Australia deal masked an ominous downside. Brierley’s had gone after the same 20 per cent stake for which Rainbow had successfully bid. Via its Australian investment arm, Industrial Equity Ltd, BIL already owned 20 per cent of Woolworths and was keen to increase its stake in the Australian supermarket chain. So soon after BIL had been forced to pay more for Rothmans than it had expected, Rainbow had again irked its bigger competitor by getting in the way of a deal that Brierley’s thought it should have clinched. Whether or not Heatley and Lane were aware of it at the time, their Woolworths purchase turned Rainbow into a Brierley’s target."

"In her book *Brierley: The Man Behind the Corporate Legend*, author Yvonne van Dongen says BIL managing director Bruce Hancox believed that Heatley and Lane were ‘two very talented men who could well have a place in BIL. BIL also had its eye on three of Rainbow’s major investments—Woolworths, Progressive Enterprises and Kern Corporation. Although it is suspected that the value of the rest of Rainbow’s corporate assets were as ephemeral as its name, these three assets plus Heatley and Lane were considered worthy BIL takeover targets.’[4](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn9)"

"In 1993 Lane was commissioned to build a farmhouse overlooking the Kaipara Harbour, one of the largest harbours in the world. The harbour massively increases the sense of scale of the property. Once or twice a year a boat would go past, but most of the time Gibbs looked out on to a vast and empty scene. Shallow and sandy, the tide goes out a mile from Gibbs’ property. Since it faces west, The Farm looks out to amazing sunsets, intensified at low tide by the sun reflecting off the wet sand, with its ever-changing pattern of ridges."