Wagner family named in AFR Rich List 2019

STALWARTS of the Toowoomba business community, the Wagner family has been named number 84 in the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List 2019.

Wagners celebrate the floating of their company on the stock exchange.

STALWARTS of the Toowoomba business community, the Wagner family has been named number 84 in the Australian Financial Review's Rich List 2019.

Collectively, according to the AFR, Joseph, Neill, Denis and John Wagner are worth an estimated $1.1 billion.

Henry Wagner, together with his four sons, founded Wagner Group in 1989 and from a single concreting plant on Anzac Ave with six trucks and 12 employees, the business has grown into a multinational company.

In 2017, the Wagners listed their construction and mining services business on the Australian Stock Exchange, with family patriarch Henry there to ring the bell and signify the opening of trade.

The family retained 55 per cent of the newly formed Wagners, with brothers Denis and John remaining on the board.

The IPO generated $200 million.

The family is perhaps most well-known for completing the construction of its Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, which serves domestic passengers and international cargo carriers and was the biggest since Melbourne's Tullamarine was built in 1970.

Denis Wagner said that with the airport and Wellcamp Business Park still in their infancy, there were significant opportunities to bring new businesses and industries to the region.

"This will create opportunity for the whole community and in particular our future generations. That's the driver (for us)," he said.

"We want to explore those opportunities, that is not only with the airport but also with the business park, the multi-modal freight terminal we intend to build, and ideally enhance tourism opportunities with an events centre here at Wellcamp that will include a V8 Supercar track."

The AFR Rich List is out today.

Originally published as Wagner family named in AFR Rich List 2019