Anthony Pratt, Visy sign $700m deal to boost Queensland manufacturing capacity

More than 900 jobs will be created across the southeast after billionaire unveils huge Queensland expansion of his recycling and cardboard box making empire.

Anthony Pratt at the Visy office. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Billionaire Anthony Pratt is spending $700m on a huge Queensland expansion of his recycling and cardboard box making empire.

Mr Pratt and his family’s Visy will invest $500m to build a new glass food and beverage container recycling and manufacturing plant in Yatala on the Gold Coast and a new $150m corrugated box factory at Hemmant, south of Brisbane airport.

Visy will also spend $48m on major upgrades to the company’s recycled material recovery facility at Gibson Island on the Brisbane River.

Mr Pratt’s announced the spending initiatives with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Thursday morning, which is the latest in a series of projects that form part of his pledge to invest $2bn in Australia over a decade on recycling and clean energy infrastructure.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described it as a key milestone for one of the most important pieces of infrastructure for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said it would also lead to the creation of Southbank 2.0 for the River City, cresting more parkland for Brisbane.

Visy will relocate its current glass re-manufacturing operations from South Brisbane to Yatala, likely in 2025, paving the way for the site along the Brisbane River to be used as the International Broadcasting Centre for the 2032 Olympic Games.

The three Queensland projects will create over 900 jobs in construction, and support 300 “green collar”, remanufacturing jobs once operational, Mr Pratt said.

“Recycling is an important weapon against climate change and the Queensland government is to be congratulated for its support for practical environmental measures, like recycling,” he said.

The $500m Yatala facility will produce about 1 billion glass containers annually for clients in the beverage industry, while the new $150m corrugated box factory at Hemmant will primarily service Queensland’s agricultural sector, supporting farmers and growers across Queensland.

Mr Pratt said the new Yatala factory would help increase the recycled content in Visy’s glass packing to 70 per cent, reducing landfill and the use of natural resources by using energy efficient manufacturing technology.

“This $700m investment confirms the government’s economic plan to grow the State’s economy and create advanced manufacturing jobs is working,” he said. “Under Premier Palaszczuk’s leadership, Queensland has become a global powerhouse for manufacturing.”

Visy is a dominant player in the beer bottle manufacturing industry in Australia after clinching a $1bn deal to acquire the local glass bottle manufacturing business of Owens-Illinois in 2020, the largest acquisition Mr Pratt has made.

Mr Pratt’s wealth was estimated at $27.77bn in the 2022 edition of The List - Australia’s Richest 250, published by The Australian in late March.

He owns Visy with sisters Heloise Pratt and Fiona Geminder, and has sole ownership of Pratt Industries in the US — where he is also expanding the business quickly.

Pratt Industries is spending more than $500m on a new paper mill in Kentucky that will produce more than 1500 tonnes of recycled paper daily.

It has also recently clinched an agreement to spend $US200m on a new factory in the Dallas suburb of Cedar Hill in Texas, which will be Pratt’s 71st factory in the US.

The US business has invested up to $US10 billion since Pratt moved to run what was a one mill operation in Macon, Georgia in 1991.

Pratt Industries is the fifth largest corrugated packaging company in the US and with 11,000 employees is now bigger than the family’s Visy operation in Australia and New Zealand.

Both businesses have grown strongly during the pandemic as their products are used to package deliveries for companies ranging from Domino’s Pizza to Amazon.