Coats grew out of Sir Ron's investment vehicle Guinness Peat Group, better known as GPG, which grew into a $1 billion business under his stewardship.
GPG sold down its portfolio of investments, leaving just the Coats thread-making business and renamed itself to reflect the change in business.
Sir Ron's team at GPG ended up divided over strategy for the group which had businesses in New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii, as well as the European Coats business.
After resigning as chairman in 2010, Sir Ron barely survived a Coats' shareholder vote to oust him from the board in 2012, retaining his seat by a slim margin of 50.75% of votes in favour versus 49.25% against.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms yesterday recalled attending the Brierley Investments annual meeting in Dunedin where shareholder demand was such a tent had to be put up in the car park behind the Dunedin Town Hall to accommodate those who could not pack into the actual hall.
At one stage, it was estimated one in every 20 New Zealanders had Brierley Investment shares.
Mr Timms said Brierley Investment shares were the first he bought, when he was a student, along with other members of his family.
Sir Ron had faced some challenges in the past few years and was probably looking for some new challenges.
It was doubtful New Zealand would ever see his like again, because of changes to the market.
''Characters like Sir Ron won't be around. The market is more `squeaky clean' these days or as Sir Bob Jones put it recently, ''nappy state''.
Sir Ron became famous for his raids on companies, stripping out the value of them before reselling them.
However, Mr Timms said he did not restrict himself to New Zealand. Sir Ron went into Australia and then to the United Kingdom with the same formula.
He was also well-known for his philanthropic work in New Zealand but Mr Timms conceded there would be investors now who would know little about him.
''When you think about 1987, you think Brierley,'' Mr Timms said.
In recent years, Sir Ron had devoted more effort to ASX-listed Mercantile Investments, which he took control of in 2012.
