It’s difficult to imagine how Australian businessman and philanthropist Anthony Pratt, the executive chairman of Visy and Pratt Industries, the world’s largest privately owned recycled paper manufacturer, finds time for his manifold activities.
Pratt, a second-generation philanthropist who heads the Board of Trustees of the Pratt Foundation that was established in Melbourne in 1978 by his parents Richard and Jeanne Pratt, and which became active in Israel in 1998, ranks in fourth place on the Rich List of the Australian Financial Review with an estimated fortune of $20.09 billion, 205 on the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, and 267 on the Bloomberg index.
He is the third-generation member of his family to make his fortune (much of which was inherited), from the corrugated box business, which expanded into related enterprises.
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The bulk of his business activities are in America rather than Australia, and his largest American investment, made in recent weeks, is the construction of a $540 million paper mill in Kentucky, which demonstrates his confidence in America’s ability to recover economically in the post-pandemic era.
A generous donor to the coffers of Australian political parties and a personal friend of former US President Donald Trump, Pratt has no problem in helping to boost America’s economy during the Joe Biden administration. His gifts to political parties on home turf have been even-handed, and that ability to be even-handed, notwithstanding personal relationships, stands him in good stead in America.
It is not only from paper that Pratt derives his income. He also owns Australia’s largest glass bottle manufacturing company, which he purchased in July 2020 for $1 billion and has since expanded its operations.
Consistent expansion has enabled Pratt to provide thousands of jobs for people in Australia and the US and to continue with his parents’ vision of improving the quality of life for people in several countries.
Visy industries was launched by his Polish immigrant grandfather Leon, who received a loan of £1,000 from his sister Ida Visbord, and honored her by naming the company in a derivative of her surname. In 1969, when Leon died, the company was taken over by Leon’s son Richard, under whose direction it expanded significantly, and continues to do so, under the management of Richard’s son Anthony, who became executive chairman following Richard’s death in 2009.
He shares the ownership of Visy with his sisters Fiona Geminder and Heloise Waislitz, who own a third each, but he is the sole owner of Pratt Industries.
One of the most outstanding gifts to Israel by the Pratt Foundation is the Park of the Australian Soldier that was dedicated in 2008 and honors the memories and the courage of members of the Australian Light Horse Regiments, who in October 1917, defeated the Ottoman troops. Richard and Jeanne Pratt were present for the ceremony, which was attended by then-Australian Governor General Michael Jeffrey and then-president Shimon Peres.
Anthony Pratt had his own relationship with Peres when the two, together with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the food and water security dialogue held in New Delhi in 2014.
Pratt takes a keen interest in food security, agricultural sustainability and water issues. He is also interested in climate change and environmental protection.
In 2007, Pratt pledged to the Global Initiative of former US president Bill Clinton to invest more than $1 billion over the next decade in recycling infrastructure and utilizing clean energy. He fulfilled his promise in five years instead of 10.
In addition to Donald Trump, Pratt rubs shoulders with Bill and Hilary Clinton, Tony Blair, Mike Pence, Narendra Modi, Michael Bloomberg, past and present Australian prime ministers Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison and many other international figures.
Pratt has received many honors and citations, but one of his proudest moments was in 2013, when he was awarded an honorary PhD by his Alma Mater, Monash University in recognition of his “outstanding career of achievement and service to philanthropy, business and commerce.”