The man who bought the Sultan of Brunei's homes

Gary Lane

Low-key Auckland businessman Gary Lane is the mystery buyer of 11 Herne Bay properties owned by the Sultan of Brunei.

Information from database Land Information NZ shows the properties were bought by interests associated with the multimillionaire businessman, who makes money from food, boats, health products and an upmarket golf course.

Mr Lane, in his mid-50s, was on this year's NBR Rich List at $225 million, up from $215 million a year ago.

In 2002, he owned two adjoining properties on Auckland's exclusive Paritai Dr then valued at $7.6 million.

That was about the same time he was reported as selling his Australian-based Lanes Food Group to US food giant Kraft for $122 million.

Mr Lane bought the sultan's houses to break up the residential empire. The deal was reported in July but this month he began advertising nine of the 11 houses.

Not for sale is the exclusive Waimanu, the 1987 hotel-sized home at 9 Argyle St set amid tropical gardens and a river round a large pool, nor a two-level designer house at 11 Stack St. Mr Lane is expected to move into Waimanu soon.

It was announced this month that he had sold part of his Hansells food manufacturing empire to the country's richest man, Graeme Hart. Hansells is an old New Zealand company that has been making baking ingredients since 1934. It is also known for powdered juice concentrates such as Vitafresh and Thriftee.

Mr Lane has owned supplements business Healtheries since 1990.

Mr Lane also owns the Wairakei golf course with close associates and fellow millionaires Trevor Farmer and Peter Francis, who have been praised by golfing experts for major upgrades of the course.

Mr Lane, a keen golfer and sailor, also chairs the board of superyacht maker Alloy Yachts. He was overseas this month and did not respond to questions about his house purchases.