AUSSIE BILLIONAIRE AND SUPPORTER OF MALAYSIA TOURISM DIES

By Neville D'Cruz

MELBOURNE, April 29 (Bernama) -- Richard Pratt, a billionaire businessman
and arts philanthropist, who initiated Tourism Malaysia's sponsorship for his
beloved Carlton Football Club through a widely publicized visit to Penang
(northern state in Peninsular Malaysia) in January, died at his Kew mansion
Tuesday night, aged 74.

A Pratt family spokesman said Pratt lost a long-running battle with
prostate cancer, just after 7pm Australian time.

He had been confined to bed for some time and had received well-wishers,
including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former prime ministers Malcolm Fraser
and Bob Hawke, before his death.

A close friend of Malaysian tycoon Ananda Krishnan from their
university days in Melbourne, Pratt, a Polish migrant who arrived in Australia
in 1938, built his company Visy into a multi-billion-dollar, international
cardboard and packaging company that now employs more than 5,600 workers.

While holidaying in Penang with Carlton footballers and officials, Pratt
flew to Kuala Lumpur in his private jet to have lunch with Ananda.

Last year his net worth was estimated at A$5.48 billion (RM14.28 billion) by
Business Review Weekly, making him Australia's fourth-richest person.

Pratt has been widely credited with reviving his beloved Carlton Football
Club from a financial brink and restoring a sense of pride to the club since
becoming the president in February 2007, after the club had suffered two
miserable seasons, finishing at the bottom of the table.

The club are now third in the 16-team competition and play last year's
champion Hawthorn on Saturday, a match Pratt would have loved to watch.

--BERNAMA