Anthony Pratt (businessman)

Anthony Pratt
Born Anthony Joseph Pratt
1960 (age 55–56)
Melbourne
Residence Melbourne, Australia and
Atlanta, US
Citizenship Australia
Alma mater Monash University
Occupation Executive Chairman of Visy Industries and Pratt Industries
Organization Visy Industries and Pratt Industries
Net worth
Board member of
Religion Judaism[3]
Partner(s) Claudine Revere
Children Leon and Lilly[3]
Parent(s)
Relatives
  • Heloise Waislitz (sister)
  • Fiona Geminder (sister)

Anthony Joseph Pratt (born 1960), an Australian businessman and billionaire, is the Executive Chairman of Visy Industries and Pratt Industries, the world’s largest privately owned packaging and paper company.

According to the 2015 BRW Rich 200, Pratt and his family have a net worth of A$10.8 billion; the second richest in Australia.[1] Meanwhile, Forbes Asia's list of Australia's 50 Richest People assessed Pratt's net worth in 2015 at US$3.5 billion;[2] listing his sisters' wealth independently.[4]

Pratt (a manufacturing magnate himself), is the son of former manufacturing magnate and President of the Carlton Football Club Richard Pratt, who founded VISY and his wife philanthropist Jeanne Pratt AC.

Background and career

Pratt was born in Melbourne, Victoria to Richard Pratt (né Przecicki) and Jeanne Pratt AC, Polish-Jewish immigrants. He graduated from Monash University, Melbourne, with a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) in 1982 and joined the consulting firm of McKinsey & Co, before joining Visy as Joint General Manager of Visy Board.[5]

In 1988, he became Deputy Chairman of Pratt Industries. Three years later, he moved to the United States to lead the company's expansion there. Over the next 15 years, Pratt Industries grew 15-fold in sales and earnings, through greenfield initiatives and the acquisition of several corrugated manufacturing companies that now form the heart of Pratt Industries. Company revenues grew from US$100 million in 1991; and by 2013 revenue was US$1.5 billion.[6] During that same period, Pratt Industries grew from the 46th largest corrugated box producer in the U.S. to the 5th largest. It is the only major paper company that is 100 percent recycled. Pratt Industries employs more than 4,000 staff at its mills and box plants throughout the USA – more US citizens than any other Australian company.[5]

In addition, Pratt's Visy employs 5000 people in Australia. The number of U.S. employees is set to grow in the wake of the 2013 announcement that Pratt would begin construction of a fourth, 100-percent recycled-paper mill near Chicago in 2014.[7]

Although Pratt remains Chairman of the American arm of the family’s packaging empire, he returned to Australia to take over as Executive Chairman of Visy following the 2009 death of his father, Richard. Visy's corporate reputation index ranking went from #43 to #3 between 2009 and 2011.[8]

Personal life

Pratt sits on the National Board of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and is also active in numerous charity organizations throughout Australia and the United States. In 1998, he arranged for Muhammad Ali to visit Australia for the Australian Football League grand final, as well as for a subsequent trip two years later.[9] Pratt is a member of the Climate Group, an international environmental group founded by former British prime minister Tony Blair. He has been honoured for his efforts by Mikhail Gorbachev's Global Green USA and Ted Turner's Captain Planet Foundation. Pratt is a member of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.[5]

In 2007, Pratt committed to former President Clinton’s Global Initiative to invest more than US$1 billion over the ensuing decade in recycling infrastructure and clean energy,[5] citing recycling as an important but underestimated weapon in the fight against climate change, because landfills emit more greenhouse gases than all of global aviation.[10][11] He fulfilled his pledge five years early.[12] Pratt's investments included the construction of four clean energy plants around the world, which, combined, have reduced the company's carbon footprint by 250,000 short tons (230,000 t) a year. In 2009, Pratt was honored by the New York-based Foreign Policy Association, with its Corporate and Social Responsibility Award. In 2010, the American Australian Association honored him at its annual benefit gala, for enhancing the Australian-American relationship. On a video played that night and later posted on YouTube entitled "Anthony Pratt Visy Video", many business, sports and political leaders including Rupert Murdoch, Muhammad Ali and President George H. W. Bush spoke of Pratt’s achievements in the USA.

Since returning to Australia in 2009, Pratt has taken a strong interest in sustainable agriculture, food security, and water issues, stating frequently that his motivation is that 70% of his Australian customers are in the food and beverage sector.[13]

In April 2013, Pratt gave the keynote address at the Global Food Forum, an international conference on food security he organized in partnership with The Australian newspaper. He said it was possible for Australia to sustainably quadruple its current food production, through greater support for farmers and food companies, and to eventually feed 200 million people.[14] The conference attracted leading political, agribusiness, food-industry, and academic figures.[15] Pratt also supports the work of Outcomes Australia, an organisation chaired by former Governor-General Michael Jeffery, which promotes the regeneration of Australian landscape and soils.

In September 2013, Pratt was elected an executive member of the Australia-Japan Business Cooperation Committee, a group dedicated for more than 50 years to strengthening ties between the two countries.[16] In October 2013, Prime Minister Tony Abbott invited Pratt on an official visit to Indonesia – the first overseas trip by the incoming leader.[17] Later that month Pratt announced that former advisor to President Obama and the outgoing US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich would join the Pratt Group advisory board.[18]

Pratt was awarded an honorary PhD by Monash University, for an "outstanding career of achievement and service to philanthropy, business and commerce."

Wealth rankings

Pratt first appeared on the BRW Rich 200 in 2009, following the death of his father earlier that year. He debuted as the richest person in Australia with a net worth of A$4.3 billion.[19] In subsequent years, his wealth has risen; however, those with interests in the rapidly growing Australian resources sector have come to dominate the list.[20][21] Since 2009, the BRW Rich 200 and the Forbes Asia list of Australia's 50 Richest People generally assessed Pratt's net worth on a similar basis, aggregated with his family. However, in 2015 Forbes reported the wealth of Pratt separate to the net worth of his two sisters, Fiona Geminder and Heloise Waislitz, reflecting in a sharp decline in his assessed personal wealth and creating a disparity between the BRW and Forbes lists.[1][2][4] In 2016 the Australian Taxation Office revealed that despite more than $2.5 billion in revenue in 2013-14, Pratt Consolidated Holdings had not paid any tax.[22]

Year BRW
Rich 200		 Forbes
Australia's 50 Richest
Rank Net worth (AUD) Rank Net worth (USD)
2009[19] 1 Increase $4.30 billion Increase
2010[19][23][24] 2 Decrease $4.60 billion Increase
2011[25][26] 4 Decrease $5.18 billion Increase 7 Increase $2.70 billion Increase
2012[27][28] 5 Decrease $5.45 billion Increase 7 Steady $3.40 billion Increase
2013[6][29] 4 Increase $5.95 billion Increase 7 Steady $4.50 billion Increase
2014[30][31] 2 Increase $7.64 billion Increase 2 Increase $7.00 billion Increase
2015[1][2][4] 2 Steady $7.64 billion Increase 7 Decrease $3.50 billion Decrease
Legend
Icon Description
Steady Has not changed from the previous year
Increase Has increased from the previous year
Decrease Has decreased from the previous year

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "2015 BRW Rich 200: Anthony Pratt & family". BRW (Sydney). May 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Australia’s 50 Richest People: #7 Anthony Pratt". Forbes Asia. March 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 Kitney, Damon (18 March 2011). "Anthony Pratt to return from US and take helm of family flagship". The Australian. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 "Australia’s 50 Richest People: The list". Forbes Asia. March 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "People: Anthony Pratt". The United States Studies Centre. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  6. 1 2 "BRW Rich 200 2013 Wealth Index". BRW (Sydney). 23 May 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  7. ↑ Mikus, Matt (17 September 2013). "$260 million recycled paper facility planned for Valparaiso". The Sun Times.
  8. ↑ "none", Australian Financial Review, 16 April 2011
  9. ↑ Rhoden, William C. (16 September 2000). "Sports of The Times; An Olympian In Word and Deed". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  10. ↑ ["http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html" "Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data"] Check |url= value (help), United States Environmental Protection Agency
  11. ↑ "Aviation and Climate Change" (PDF), United States Government Accountability Office
  12. ↑ Commitment Search: Recycling is an Important Weapon against Climate Change, 2007
  13. ↑ "Pratt warns of food security danger". The Age (Melbourne). 16 November 2011.
  14. ↑ "Global Food Forum". The Australian. April 2013.
  15. ↑ "Asia food bonanza 'our next boom', says Anthony Pratt". The Australian. 18 April 2013.
  16. ↑ "Members List" (PDF). Australia-Japan Business Cooperation Committee.
  17. ↑ Maher, Sid (2 October 2013). "Abbott's focus on international trade delights CEOs". The Australian.
  18. ↑ Kitney, Damon (11 October 2013). "US Ambassador for Pratt Advisory Board". The Australian.
  19. 1 2 3 Zappone, Chris (26 May 2010). "Frank Lowy tops BRW rich list for first time". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  20. ↑ Heathcote, Andrew; Lindsay, Nicole (27 June 2014). "BRW Rich 200: how technology is reshaping the list". BRW (Interactive chart). Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  21. ↑ Thomson, James (23 May 2012). "Rinehart, Palmer and the Rich 200". Business Spectator. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  22. ↑ "98 private companies earning over $200m pay no tax: ATO". ABC News. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  23. ↑ Saulwick, Jacob; Cummins, Caroline (27 May 2010). "Lowy leaves mining magnates in the dust". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  24. ↑ "2010 Australia's 40 Richest". Forbes Asia. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  25. ↑ Wood, Lachlan (25 May 2011). "Passport Power". BRW Rich 200 Wealth Index (Australia). Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  26. ↑ "2011 Australia's 40 Richest". Forbes Asia. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  27. ↑ "Rich 200: It's tough at the top". BRW (Sydney). 24 May 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  28. ↑ "2012 Australia's 40 Richest". Forbes Asia. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  29. ↑ "2013 Australia's 50 Richest". Forbes Asia. 1 February 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  30. ↑ "2014 BRW Rich 200". BRW (Sydney). 26 June 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  31. ↑ "2014 Australia's 50 Richest". Forbes Asia. January 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.

External links


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