Not even Australia’s richest man can avoid the coronavirus ripple effect.
International box billionaire Anthony Pratt, at last count worth $13.14bn according to this newspaper’s The List, turns 60 on April 11.
The Visy executive chair was set to celebrate the milestone birthday at a gathering with his nearest and dearest a week later on April 18 at the Pratt family’s historic mansion Raheen in Melbourne’s leafy Kew.
But alas, thanks to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, Pratt has now postponed his knees-up “in view of the ongoing global health situation and out of respect for those already affected by coronavirus”.
The Visy boss, who runs significant operations in the US and divides his time between luxury homes there and in Australia, is in Oz now after touching down last weekend just a day ahead of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s edict for travellers from overseas to isolate for 14 days.
From here expect the billionaire, who is close to US President Donald Trump, to stay put for a bit in line with ScoMo’s directive on Wednesday to Australians not to travel offshore.
Thankfully Pratt and his wife Claudine Revere’s son Leon, who’s just turned 11, got his party in ahead of the curve, celebrating on the weekend via a sleepover with his young mates, where little shut eye was had by all.
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