Rayner

"Rayner was delighted to have a boss who liked the business as much as he did. Stokes proved, Rayner later said, to be more builder than deal maker. ‘He always leaves things in much better technical shape than he found them’ is the way he describes the man who would be his boss for the rest of his working life. ‘With Kerry, it’s more than just money. It’s an attitude, an enthusiasm for the task, not just the business. He wanted everything clean and sparkling and happy. In fact, he more or less demanded it. He wanted to make it the best ship on the line.’"

"‘Kerry’s got a multi-track mind. He’s always across the material,’ says Rayner, who paints a picture of a restless intellect with a roving eye for opportunity, of a loner who was rarely alone because he also had the knack of leadership."

"On their last day in Japan, Stokes and Rayner were having a meal when some young Japanese students asked them if they could practise their English with them. The two men obliged. Stokes asked one of the students what her plans were for the future and she said to study English and become a professional translator. He asked what it would cost to do the course; the answer (in yen) was about $2500. Stokes pulled out his unused travellers’ cheques and handed over $2500, a lot of money in Japan with the exchange rate at about 380 yen to the dollar. Rayner was shaking his head. Stokes told him: ‘We’ve had a great trip so let’s leave a bit behind.’ The student took his business card and the cheques and thanked him and he didn’t think of it again. Twenty years later a brown-paper parcel the size of a shoebox arrived at Australian Capital Equity’s office in Perth. Assistant Kathy Bohn opened it cautiously. Inside was a huge pile of Japanese currency and a note from the student. It said, in fluent English, that many years earlier the sender had borrowed $2500 from Stokes to pursue her language studies and that it had changed her life. She had met and married her husband at college and now they both had successful careers as translators for big companies. The cash added up to $12,000. The exchange rate had tumbled from 380 yen to 75 to the dollar. Stokes had done bigger deals but not many better ones, and he’d only been trying to help."