Progressive Enterprises

"⁠Immediately after selling Rothmans, Rainbow had swooped on Progressive Enterprises, then owners of the Foodtown, Three Guys and Georgie Pie chains. Rainbow had spent $93 million in 48 hours to pick up 20 per cent of Progressive, paying a premium of 35 per cent over the last sale price for Progressive shares. Rainbow subsequently increased its holding of Progressive to 44 per cent. It was a good investment but an expensive one, and the opportunity to now also get into Australia’s under-performing supermarket business, if Rainbow could buy into Woolworths, was too tempting to resist.⁠"

"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)"

"While the corporate battle was deadly serious for Rainbow and BIL, it was entertaining to others. ‘Obviously there is little love lost between those daring Kiwi corporate raiders Craig Heatley of Rainbow Corp and BIL top banana Paul Collins,’ *The Sydney Morning Herald*’s CBD column opined on 26 March. ‘The two are locked in mortal combat over NZ retailer Progressive Enterprises, a battle which could prove costly to the loser. Collins claims that Progressive shares are worth twice as much as Rainbow shares (Rainbow is offering one share for each Progressive) while Heatley dismisses as “absolute bulldust” allegations attributed to Collins to the effect that Rainbow is about to fall in a heap.’[8](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn13)"

"‘There’s too many players in the market all fighting over the same bones,’ he said in a lengthy interview with *The Evening Post* the week that Rainbow acquired a 20 per cent stake in supermarket operators Progressive Enterprises after selling its stake in Rothmans.[1](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn6) ‘The market is too high—it is inevitable it will come back. There are some crazy prices being paid. There are some dopey things happening. Some investment companies are having to buy anything to give themselves earnings, it can only work for so long.’"

"But if that wasn’t enough, 1990 had also brought Gibbs another wonderful business opportunity. Earlier in the year he’d taken a call from Craig Heatley inviting him and Trevor Farmer to invest in Sky Television, his latest business venture. Heatley, 34, had been one of the stars of the 1980s, having started out with a mini-golf course on Tamaki Drive. By 1987 his public company, Rainbow Corp, controlled 55 per cent of New Zealand’s supermarket trade through Progressive Enterprises, 20 per cent of Woolworths in Australia and significant property investments. Cannily he’d sold the business to Brierleys a few months before the stock market crash of October 1987.[28](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477273-050103421-28) Casting about for something to do in 1988, he started talking to someone who had a horse racing television channel in Australia called Sky. At that time, he was on Brierley’s board and they owned Dominion Breweries. He came up with the idea of having a horse racing channel exclusively in DB pubs. When his Brierley colleagues passed on the opportunity, he followed it up personally."