appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . march 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . october 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message visy industries headquarters melbourne australia website www.visy.com.au visy industries was established in melbourne australia in 1948 and has since grown to become one of the world s largest privately owned paper packaging and recycling companies . today visy employs more than 9500 people in australia and the united states where it is known as pratt industries usa with total sales exceeding more than 5 billion . visy was owned by richard pratt until his death on 28 april 2009 . 1 when his son anthony pratt assumed the role of executive chairman . he has also presided over a major expansion into the asian packaging market and moved to position visy as a key player in food security for the region . today visy s operational footprint extends from sydney to singapore from shanghai to san francisco with more than 180 facilities worldwide . contents 1 history 2 2001 2003 tumut and southcorp 3 philanthropy 4 controversy 5 hells angels links 6 post 2009 leadership under anthony pratt 7 sustainability 8 awards 9 references 10 external links history edit visy industries began in 1948 with a 1000 pound loan from richard pratt s aunt ida visbord for whom the company is named . originally there were three partners visbord s husband max plotka richard pratt s father leon and engineer les feldman . from the day visy opened for business in a fitzroy melbourne factory there were indications this would be a company devoted to recycling and sustainability the first corrugator it used was made from spare parts and recycled scrap metal . after leon pratt s death in 1969 his son richard pratt took over the reins and oversaw a dramatic expansion . throughout the 1970s visy established new plants in new south wales and queensland and by the end of the decade was making more than 100 000 tonnes of boxes a year . 2 in the late 1970s and early 80s visy continued to grow but this time its major expansion was spearheaded by the decision to build 100 % recycled paper mills the first at warwick farm sydney . this decision not only signaled a shift in visy s corporate philosophy but placed the company at the forefront of the recycling movement in australia setting the company on the path to record growth and profits . by 1990 visy s national market share was over 40 % with more than 2000 employees . 3 richard and anthony pratt then set their sights on the huge american market with the younger pratt moving to the u.s. to oversee the start up and development of pratt industries usa . through a combination of acquisition and greenfielding 100 % recycled paper mills and state of the art corrugators pratt industries usa showed remarkable progress in the ensuing two decades growing from the 46th largest corrugated packaging producer in america to the 5th . 4 today pratt industries usa employs more than 4000 people more americans than any other australian company . it is the only major paper company in the us that is 100 % recycled . 2001 2003 tumut and southcorp edit in 2001 visy undertook the then largest development in its remarkable history was the construction of a 450 million kraft paper mill in tumut new south wales the first kraft mill built in the world in 20 years . it was the biggest investment in regional australia since the snowy mountains scheme rp speech and was hailed by australia s leading environmentalists for its commitment to sustainability . 5 it also boasts an advanced water usage system with near zero levels of effluent leaving the site . in fact the tumut mill is the most water efficient in the world requiring just five tonnes of water to produce every tonne of product compared to the global average of 25 tonnes . and it uses only forest thinnings and off cuts for fibre . 6 the project was so successful that 10 years later visy built stage 2 on the same site a second kraft paper mill bringing the total investment to tumut to almost 1 billion . stage 2 which was opened by nsw premier barry o farrell was also hailed by environmentalists and was a winner of the australian business awards for environmental sustainabilty . 7 visy continued to grow by acquisition as well as green fielding . in 2001 the company effectively doubled in size when it acquired southcorp packaging . visy was now operating at over 100 packaging and recycling sites in australia new zealand and the u.s. moreover visy expanded its product mix to include steel and aluminum cans pet bottles beverage cartons and plastic packaging . it also continued to be a world leader in recycling and during this period visy opened australia s largest materials recovery facility mrf in smithfield nsw . 8 philanthropy edit the pratt foundation was established by richard and jeanne pratt in 1978 to support various charitable causes and initiatives throughout australia . since then it has donated more than 250 million . in addition jeanne and richard pratt helped raised a further 250 million by opening their home raheen to other charitable fundraisers . the foundation is chaired by anthony pratt s sister heloise waislitz . its chief executive is sam lipski a melbourne based journalist and supports areas including medical research education the arts and relief of poverty . 9 the pratt family is also behind visycares a non profit begun in 1995 which promotes social responsibility at visy through donations to establish community based projects such as youth immigrant and learning centres . 10 controversy edit in december 2005 the australian competition and consumer commission accc commenced prosecution against visy for alleged involvement in a cartel in the packaging industry . in 2007 richard pratt and the visy group received a a 36 million fine for price fixing representing the largest fine in australian history at the time . that same year it was also learned that visy was also one of a number of australian companies that had used a trucking company later proved to be run by a former hell s angel . 11 12 in 2009 upon anthony pratt s ascendency to executive chairman visy appointed former accc chairman professor allan fels to chair its governance committee . 13 in addition pratt also announced former advisor to president obama and the outgoing us ambassador to australia jeffrey bleich would join his company s advisory board . bleich an ex clerk for former u.s. supreme court chief justice william rehnquist was a one time special counsel to the president before being appointed ambassador . he joins other advisory board members including sir dryden spring the former chairman of the australian new zealand national bank allan moss ao the former ceo of the macquarie banking group and jeanne pratt ac . 14 in 2016 the australian taxation office revealed that in 2013 14 despite earning more than 2.5 billion in revenue the holding company pratt consolidated holdings had paid no tax . further that thorney investments operated by richard pratt s son in law alex waislitz which earned 430 million in revenue had also paid no tax . 15 hells angels links edit visy industries has strong links with the outlaw motorcycle group the hells angels . visy industries employs a trucking company run by stephen james rogers a convicted drug trafficker and founding chapter boss of the hells angels . rogers was sentenced in 2007 to three years prison for drug trafficking and a senior visy industries manager gave character evidence for rogers at his trial and stated the company would stand by him despite his conviction for trafficking amphetamines . 16 in 2012 visy industries was accused of using the hells angels to collect their debts . police and industry sources state visy founder richard pratt who died in 2009 personally approved the deal with the hells angles . visy industries have called the accusations nonsense . 17 post 2009 leadership under anthony pratt edit anthony pratt following richard pratt s death in april 2009 anthony pratt returned to australia to assume the added responsibility of global executive chairman of visy industries . this was in addition to him continuing in his long time position as chairman of pratt industries usa . just two years after he assumed leadership of the company visy jumped from 43rd to 3rd in the amr corporate citizenship index part of an annual survey of more than 60 000 australians . 18 under anthony pratt s leadership the company has also expanded its asian presence and participation . earnings from its asian operations have increased by 100 million a year . 19 this was achieved in several ways . firstly visy established build run repair an engineering services company headquartered in singapore to design and build sustainable pulp and paper mills and clean energy plants leveraging the company s experience gained from building its own 15 paper mills and 4 clean energy plants . its internal team of more than 40 engineers is also charged with maintaining visy s worldwide portfolio of factories as well as source equipment and products from china vietnam malaysia other asian countries . in addition the singapore operation houses a trading company . its mission is to buy hundreds of millions of dollar worth of goods and services for both visy and external customers . 20 this period has also seen the growth of visy s thailand operations which produce plastic products . the thailand success builds on visy s strategy of following its multinational customers into asia . visy has also set up warehouse distribution centres outside shanghai and beijing as well as a trading office in shenzhen which is selling visy paper into the chinese market . visy s growing focus on asian markets received a major boost in 2013 when anthony pratt announced plans to double the company s earnings in the region by building new packaging plants in at least four south east asian countries . they will be modeled on the group s existing plastics plants in thailand vietnam and malaysia . 19 work on the 260 million project is scheduled to begin in march and will take 16 months . the 360 000 ton capacity plant will be built on a 50 acre site adjacent to pratt s box making plant in valparaiso indiana the world s largest . the new mill is expected to propel pratt s usa sales to 2 billion . 21 this follows other mills pratt built in the usa most notably in new york city . that facility represents the largest manufacturing investment in the city since world war 2 . and it is the only paper mill ever built in new york . new york mayor michael r. bloomberg designated september 17 2013 as pratt industries day in the big apple in tribute to the company s commitment to recycling and the environment . 22 in a video posted on youtube entitled nyc mayor salutes pratt industries bloomberg cited a proclamation honoring pratt s mill for having recycled 5 million tons of discarded paper since start up in 1997 . citation needed pratt also wants to ramp up visy s logistics operations to help spearhead a four fold increase in australia s food exports to asia especially china . 23 visy is already the largest