Wellington

"The leisure business was providing a healthy cashflow but Heatley was already looking farther afield. While one of the main reasons for floating had been to raise money to pay back high-interest borrowings, in the back of his mind he had hoped that if the park was successful it would embolden his colleagues to consider other investments. He and the other directors knew that the leisure industry had a natural cap in a city with a relatively small population. It was hard to see what more could be wrung out of Rainbow’s End. In July 1986 the leisure side of the business was split off as Questar Corporation, which planned to look offshore for further sporting/leisure and tourism opportunities. It was majority-owned by Rainbow but listed separately on the stock exchange. An ill-fated foray into commercial property, Rainbow Properties, which developed the Majestic Centre in downtown Wellington, was also spun off from Rainbow with Ken Wikeley as managing director."

"It provoked a celebrated court case driven by some disgruntled Lion shareholders, which, once solved, allowed the merger to proceed.[8](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477273-050103421-8) As a Lion director Gibbs watched the saga unfold and he was later drawn to observe: ‘David Richwhite is one of the most aggressive businessmen this country has ever produced, and I mean that as a heartfelt compliment.’[9](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477273-050103421-9) Having been hired by several of the new SOEs, including Telecom, to raise capital on international finance markets, Fay, Richwhite had deep relationships throughout the Wellington commercial and government worlds."